1) With a collapsed lung and shrapnel lodged across the rest of his body, then-Specialist Felipe Pereira drove a John Deere Gator (small all-terrain utility vehicle) into battle.

2) His squad was returning from a patrol when a suicide bomber blew up a motorcycle next to them as the soldiers were about to re-enter their combat post. Two soldiers were killed and four severely wounded.

3) Specialist Pereira went down with his legs bloodied from shrapnel, and metal lodged in his spleen, liver and left lung. As small-arms fire and RPG's started hitting all-around Pereira limped inside the wire.

4) He struggled to breathe as his lung collapsed, and bled from numerous other wounds. He ignored this and refused medical treatment, found a Gator parked nearby, and sped outside the safety of the compound walls back into the ambush.

5) Specialist Pereira returned fire from the John Deere Gator as others loaded 2 wounded soldiers on the back. He drove them to safety, then returned again to the kill zone.

6) After the last of the casualties were loaded, he drove back inside the wall. With everyone now safe, Spc. Pereira collapsed from his wounds. He recovered and was back out on patrol just one month later.

7) In 2012, nearly 18 months after the action, Specialist Felipe Pereira was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism. Specialist Felipe Pereira was born in Brazil and became a U.S. citizen in February 2010, and deploy to Afghanistan the same year.

8) Six months later, he earned the second-highest commendation for valor in combat. Specialist Pereira was the Team Leader with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division Air Assault.