The U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) -- A Brazilian-born Army sergeant credited with saving two lives during an attack in Afghanistan while wounded has been presented with the nation's second highest military honor, the Distinguished Service Cross.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno presented the medal to Sgt. Felipe Pereira (PUR-air-rah) of the 101st Airborne Division during a ceremony Thursday at the installation on the Tennessee- Kentucky state line.

Pereira described the November 2010 attack in Kandahar province when he was injured by a suicide bomber and two other soldiers were killed. Despite shrapnel wounds to his lung, he jumped on an all-terrain vehicle to rescue two wounded soldiers who were pinned down by enemy fire.

Pereira is the first soldier from the famed 101st Airborne Division since Vietnam to receive the Distinguished Service Cross.