Obama Gives Retired Army Captain Medal Of Honor For Afghanistan Heroism

Washington (CNN) -A brave Army captain who survived attacks by two suicide bombers moments apart but was badly wounded as he saved his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan will receive the Medal of Honor, the White House announced Thursday.

President Barack Obama will award (Ret.) Army Capt. Florent Groberg the honor on Nov. 12 for what the White House called "his selfless service" during a deadly attack in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, in August 2012.

Groberg and five other soldiers were providing a security detail for senior U.S. military leaders as they were heading down a street toward the provincial governor's compound when an ambush started to unfold, according to a story about the incident on the U.S. Army's official homepage.

Groberg, who grew up in Maryland, spent nearly three years recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center before medically retiring in July. He required 33 surgeries to keep his badly injured leg.

He was born in France and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2001. Groberg ran track at the University of Maryland, where he earned a bachelor's in criminology and criminal justice before joining the military.

Groberg will be the 10th living recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan. He and his family will attend the White House ceremony.

The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest military honor and is given for "meritorious conduct [that] must involve great personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life."