DES MOINES, Iowa – A 25-year-old soldier from Iowa who exposed himself to enemy gunfire to try to save two fellow soldiers will become the first living service member from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to receive the Medal of Honor, the White House announced Friday.

President Obama phoned Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta on Thursday at the base in Italy where he’s stationed to tell him he’d be receiving the nation’s highest military honor, Giunta’s father said. He will become the eighth service member to receive the Medal of Honor during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The seven previous medals were awarded posthumously.

“It’s bittersweet for us,” said Steven Giunta, of Hiawatha. “We’re very proud of Sal. We can’t mention that enough, but in this event, two other soldiers were killed and that weighs heavy on us. You get very happy and very proud and then you start dealing with the loss as well. You can’t have one without the other.”

Giunta was serving as a rifle team leader when an insurgent ambush split his squad into two groups on Oct. 25, 2007, in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, the White House said in a news release.

Giunta went above and beyond the call of duty when he exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a fellow soldier back to cover. He engaged the enemy again when he saw two insurgents carrying away a wounded soldier, Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan, 22, of McFarland, Wis.

Giunta killed one insurgent and wounded the other before tending to Brennan, who died the next day.

“His courage and leadership while under extreme enemy fire were integral to his platoon’s ability to defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow American soldier from enemy hands,” the White House said.

Giunta enlisted in the Army shortly after graduating from Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids.