Thank you for your service and sacrifice, Sergeant 1st Class Barrientos.
President Donald Trump marked his first visit to a military hospital with wife Melania Trump in order to award a Purple Heart to an Army sergeant.
Trump said he was so moved by the story of Sergeant 1st Class Alvaro Barrientos, who was wounded in Afghanistan on March 17, that he wanted to do the honor himself.
Melania stood by her husband’s side at the visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington, on Saturday.
Before pinning the award on Barrientos, Trump remarked: ‘When I heard about this and I wanted to do it myself.’
The occasion marked Trump’s first visit as president to the military hospital.
Barrientos, whose right leg below the knee had been amputated, was wheeled into a hospital atrium in a wheelchair, accompanied by his wife, Tammy.
The commander of the U.S. military kissed Barrientos’ wife before he bestowed the honorable award to the sergeant’s left shirt collar.
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Besides Barrientos, Trump was expected to meet privately with about a dozen service members who are receiving care at the medical center.
Before leaving the White House, the president tweeted that he looked forward to ‘seeing our bravest and greatest Americans.’