WASHINGTON — A retired Army captain from Maryland is receiving the nation’s highest military honor for disrupting suicide bombers in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama intends to award the Medal of Honor to Capt. Florent A. “Flo” Groberg at the White House on Nov. 12. He and his family will join the president to commemorate his example of selfless service.
The Army credits the 32-year-old French native with keeping suicide bombers from detonating as planned in August 2012, saving most of those on patrol in Asadabad, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Bomb blasts still killed four Americans and wounded others. Groberg was serving with the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infrantry Division.
During combat, he suffered a severe leg injury and spent the last three years in treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
He was medically retired in July.
Groberg graduated from Bethesda’s Walter Johnson High School in 2001. Also, he attended the University of Maryland in College Park where he competed in track and cross country. He graduated from the university in 2006 with a bachelor’s in criminology and criminal justice.
Groberg still lives in the D.C. area.
He will be the 10th living recipient to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan.
He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2001.
WTOP’s Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report from Washington.
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