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.
He was injured when an Afghan soldier opened fire inside a base in the Helmand province and wounded three U.S. soldiers, reported Reuters.
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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