Medal of Honor recipient Florent Groberg is among the veterans who will be speaking on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, organizers announced Thursday.
Groberg, a retired Army captain, received the nation’s highest award for valor in November. In Afghanistan in August 2012, Groberg was serving as a personal security detachment commander when he spotted a man walking erratically toward a group of other soldiers on foot.
Seeing that the man was wearing a suicide vest, Groberg and another soldier pushed the man away from the other soldiers and tackled him to the ground. The bomb went off, and Groberg lost part of his calf muscle and suffered a blown eardrum and mild traumatic brain injury.
Speakers also include:
- Retired Marine Gen. John Allen, former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. He served as the administration’s point man on the Islamic State fight after retiring.
- Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., an Army helicopter pilot who lost both her legs when her helicopter crashed in 2004 after it was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.
- Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Hawaii, who’s also a reserve Air Force colonel.
- Khizr Khan, who’s son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq in 2004. The DNC said Khan is one of 14 American Muslims who died serving the U.S. since 9/11.
