Sometimes your worst day is someone else’s best day. It was such a day for Medal of Honor recipient Army Captain Florent Groberg when he was leading a security detail by foot tasked with protecting high ranking officers.
As his formation approached the provincial governor’s compound, Groberg noticed off to his left a man dressed in dark clothing, walking backward, some 10 feet away.
The man spun around and turned toward the captain who simultaneously sprinted toward him and began pushing him backward and farther from his detail. The suicide bomber detonated his bomb.
Groberg's decisive actions also caused the premature detonation of a second suicide bombers’ explosive device. Groberg saved the lives of many men that day. For his acts of valor, he was awarded the nation’s highest honor, the Medal of Honor, in 2016 by President Barack Obama.
Groberg, the Honorary Grand Marshall of the New York Veterans Day parade, says he is “blessed and honored” to be chosen to lead this year’s parade honoring the men and women who have served this country.
“The people of New York understand what it means to serve this country, and I’m proud to represent this nation's veterans and honor them for their service,” says Groberg. “Veterans Day is one of the most important days in the year to me. It's a day where we have the opportunity to thank the men and women who put on the uniform, they sacrificed their time and their lives, and we need to honor that service.”
Groberg likened our nation’s veterans, past and present, to the biblical story of David and Goliath, saying that the men and women who selflessly put on the uniform, put themselves in the line of fire against insurmountable odds so that this country could continue to be “the best country and an example to others.”
The New York City Veterans Day Parade, which is an annual parade produced by the United War Veterans Council (UWVC), is the largest Veterans Day event in the United States of America.
The event, which is held in New York's Manhattan borough honoring living U.S. servicemen and women, begins just after 11 a.m. EST on Veterans Day.
-- Sean Mclain Brown can be reached at sean.brown@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @seanmclainbrown
