US Army Captain receives Medal of Honor for tackling suicide bomber in Afghanistan

President Barack Obama awards US Army Captain Florent Groberg with the nation's highest honour. (Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)

Captain Florent A Groberg recieved the Medal of Honor on Thursday for his heroics in the Afghan war.

President Barack Obama awarded the 32-year-old retired captain, who’s been recovering from 33 surgeries over the last three years.

“On his very worst day, he managed to summon his very best. That’s the nature of courage — not being unafraid but confronting fear and danger and performing in a selfless fashion,” President Obama said.

“He showed his guts, he showed his training, how he would put it all on the line for his teammates. That’s an American we can all be grateful for.”

On August 8, 2012, Captain Groberg tackled a suicide bomber on a security detail operation. He noticed a man dressed in dark clothing walking backward near his patrol. When he recognized the man was a threat, hit the man with his rifle. He then noticed the suicide vest, and he tackled him to the ground.

The captain was thrown 15 to 20 feet in the air and his leg was severely injured. Another bomber’s vest prematurely detonated in the blast, taking the lives of four US servicemen and injuring 16 others.

Command Sergeant Major Kevin J Griffin, Major Thomas E Kennedy, Major Walter D Gray of and Ragaei Abdelfattah, a Foreign Service officer with the US Agency for International Development.

Officials said that more service members would have been killed if not for Captain Groberg’s heroics, but the honoree said that his medal belongs to the families of the victims of the attack.

“These are the true heroes, guys who make the ultimate sacrifice, and their families who have to deal with it for the rest of their lives,” he told ABC News.