Former Bonney Lake Man To Receive Medal Of Honor

The White House announced President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor to a former Bonney Lake man on May 13, 2014.

The Medal of Honor is awarded to service members who distinguish themselves by gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.

In November 2007, former Army Sergeant Kyle White was serving as a radio-telephone operator in a mountainous region of Afghanistan’s Nuristan province when his platoon was ambushed. The U.S. Army’s official account of that day describes an explosion from a rocket-propelled grenade that knocked White unconscious.

A dramatic firefight ensued in which then-Specialist White awoke to find most of the team had moved to a new position to avoid enemy fire.

Despite his injuries, the account says White helped save two of his wounded team members, though one later died.

According to the account, White then sprinted through a hail of bullets to try and help his platoon leader who was already dead when White reached him. A total of six Americans were killed during the fight.

White left the Army three years ago and now works as an investment analyst in Charlotte, N.C.

He was born in Seattle and grew up in Bonney Lake. Both his parents worked for Boeing. The Army says White’s father was in the Special Forces during Vietnam.

White is the seventh living recipient to be awarded the highest military award for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan.