Valor 24: Sgt. Randall - Public domain photogrpaph

Medal of Honor candidate Pfc. Demensio Rivera, was born in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, April 29, 1933. Rivera joined the U.S. Army, Sept. 26, 1950, in New York. Then-Pvt. Rivera is being recognized for his actions while serving with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division at Changyongni, Korea, May 22-23, 1951. When the outpost area occupied by his platoon was assaulted during the night, Rivera, an automatic rifleman, held his forward position tenaciously, although exposed to very heavy fire. When his rifle became inoperative, Rivera employed his pistol and grenades, and eventually fought the enemy hand-to-hand and forced them back. Finally, as an overwhelming number of the enemy closed in on him, he killed four of them with his only remaining grenade. Although they were in such close proximity he was severely wounded by the same explosion. When his position was retaken, he was found seriously wounded and lying with the bodies of the four enemy dead or dying. Ashley Randall will accept the Medal of Honor award from President Barack Obama on March 18, 2014, on behalf of her grandfather. Randall is a sergeant serving on active duty as a generator mechanic and recently returned from deployment in Afghanistan. She was estranged from her father and did not know about her grandfather’s service record until receiving notification of her next-of-kin status to a future Medal of Honor recipient. Randall is a proud mother of a 4-year-old son.