A 67-year-old Vietnam War veteran from Rye Brook is finally to be honored Monday with the Silver Star medal for his efforts on the battlefield in 1966.
, D-Harrison, is set to present the Silver Star to Thomas Giorgi at a ceremony in White Plains. The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration and is awarded by all branches of the Armed Forces to any person who, while serving in any capacity, is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.
Giorgi’s actions during an attack on his squad near the Cambodian border on July 3, 1966, left him critically wounded and earned him two Purple Hearts. Click here to read an account of that day by Giorgi.
His account recalls how he and fellow soldiers were caught in a deadly ambush. He fought off enemy troops in an effort to give a medic time to work on his badly wounded seargeant. Both the medic and the seargeant would soon be killed, and Giorgi was wounded.
There were 22 men involved with the battle at its start. By the time it was over, 15 were dead and four of the remaining seven had been wounded.
With help from Lowey’s office, Giorgi compiled and submitted to the U.S. Department of Defense the necessary documentation demonstrating sacrifices meriting the Silver Star. Giorgi wrote to Lowey for help in 2011.
Giorgi was raised in Port Chester. He is a retired New York City paramedic.
