Afterwards I asked Jordan to venture over so I could introduce myself to his parents, Steve and Rosemary. "Why", asked Jordan. "What do you want to do that for". "Just never mind", I replied. "Come on". So we ambled over to the area his parents were receiving well wishers and I offered a handshake to his mother. "Congratulations", I said. "You must be very proud. We have two sons in the military, one just deployed to Afghanistan". "That's nice", Rose responded. "I'm a believer and so is Sal. We'll pray for them". I'm not sure what expression crossed my face, but words escaped me, I will tell you that. This was not what I expected...yet I had felt there was some inexplicable reason that I needed to speak with the Giuntas, and Rose in particular. Needless to say, the comment about her faith "opened" the door for further conversation and an inquiry of a future interview for the blog. The nudge to speak with Mrs. Giunta will be obvious to you when you hear her words. That day will be forever etched in my memory.
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| Steve and Rosemary Giunta Receiving Congratulations (photo by Dave Miller) |
Since then, Rosemary Giunta and I have had several conversations ranging from faith to children to military and the like. She is a salt of the earth woman who loves talking about her faith walk. Amazingly, most of our talks haven't focused on her Medal of Honor son, although her experiences in Staff Sgt.'s deployments have been a great help to me and my family. Last week I spoke to Rosemary for about an hour. Attached you will find the link to the audio...a podcast of sorts. Here you'll find out about the early years of faith in the Giunta family and details of Salvatore's first deployment. Part 2 will consist of the ambush and the Medal of Honor reception at the White House.
YGG,
John
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