Petry Honors Fellow Medal of Honor Recipient Larry Taylor

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – A major week of patriotism wrapped up in style today.

 Sergeant Leroy Petry knows how drastically one action can change one’s life.

In 2008, while on tour with the United States Army in Afghanistan, a firefight with the Taliban would change his life. 

Sgt. Petry said, “I had a bullet that went through both of my upper thighs, if it had hit an artery I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you here today. I was running around with those two holes in my upper thighs.” 

Captain Larry Taylor, newest recipient at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center. (Courtesy: National Medal of Honor Heritage Center)

After being shot in both legs, a Taliban soldier threw a grenade towards Sergeant Petry and two other soldiers.

He picked up the grenade and threw it away from the other soldiers, sacrificing his right hand.

Sgt. Petry said, “It is the decisions that we make that shape those outcomes. We are all responsible for our own happiness and our own misery. And our character is defined by the actions that we take.”

He spoke about the meaning of the Medal of Honor at Wednesday’s fundraiser for the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center.

He celebrated Chattanooga’s Captain Larry Taylor, who was unable to make the luncheon.

Sgt. Petry said, “I went to the ceremony last week, I was inspired, I was in awe.”

A large part of the temporary exhibit at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center honoring Captain Taylor was on display at the luncheon.

Larry Taylor’s army uniform, his portrait from last week in Washington, D.C. when he received his Medal of Honor, and other photos and artifacts were on display, and still are at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center.

Sergeant Petry says as a fellow Medal of Honor recipient, he wants Captain Taylor to know the rest of the living fraternity of America’s highest honored men will have his back.

Sgt. Petry said, “It gets chaotic, all of a sudden your life changes like that overnight, and everybody wants a piece of you, and everybody wants your time, and everybody wants your time and everyone is asking you questions and everybody wants a picture with you… I’m going to go support Larry, because I know how it is to be on your own sometimes and feel overwhelmed.”