More than 60 years later, Carmine Botti bears scars from a grenade attack in Tunisia that left him seriously wounded on the ground, surrounded by German soldiers.

Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Carmine Botti, 84, recalls his actions during World War II that earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest award for bravery in combat. At right is his wife, Helen. Click photo for larger image.

Moments before, he had been riding on a jeep bringing ammunition to his company.

"They could just as well have put a bayonet or a bullet through me," Botti, 84, of Wilmerding, recalled, noting that the soldiers soon walked away. "They probably thought I wasn't going to live much longer."

Instead, with shrapnel wounds so severe that he lost his left eye, he crawled 150 yards to alert his commanding officer that an enemy patrol had penetrated friendly lines. The information helped to prevent a serious breakthrough.

His actions on April 1-2, 1943, earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest award for bravery in combat.

Another winner of the award, Penn Hills resident Angelo Cestoni Jr. , charged a gun position on Dec. 16, 1944, killing two German soldiers with a pistol. Despite head wounds inflicted by fire from an approaching column of tanks, he also triggered a bazooka that knocked the lead tank out of action, prompting the others to withdraw.

Both men will be inducted Saturday into the Hall of Valor at the Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum & Memorial in Oakland.

Following his heroic actions in Belgium, Cestoni soon recovered from his injuries and rejoined his unit. Botti spent the rest of World War II in the hospital, undergoing about 19 operations for shrapnel wounds to his face, chest, abdomen, thighs and legs.

After the war, both men returned to their families in Western Pennsylvania and resumed their lives as civilians. Botti went back to work at Westinghouse Air Brake Co., retiring in 1982. Cestoni worked at Universal Atlas Cement, a U.S. Steel division, and retired in 1980.

For years, both said little about their time in combat.

"He never talked about it," said Botti's wife, Helen. She said their son, Mark, found out from an uncle that his father had won the prestigious award.

"You'll never know unless you've been through it," Cestoni, 80, said of his reasons for saying little about his wartime experiences.

"I've seen people die, get crippled up. I was one of the lucky ones that came back alive."

This year's Hall of Valor inductees from Pittsburgh include Raymond Dittler, James Doloughty, William Fishinger, Kenneth Forsyth, Harry Goldberg, Robert Ludwig, James McHarg, Frank Mino, Michael Morch, John Morgan, Melvin Rapport, Albert Sims (Simkunas), Walter Sobczak, Nelson Waldron and Joseph Wirth.

Other inductees include Robert Bahl Jr., Crafton; Harry Craft, New Wilmington, Lawrence County; Ralph Danielson, Dravosburg; Leon Frank, Washington, Pa.; Robert Kessler and James Sullivan Jr., McKeesport; Leo Kimball, Ebensburg, Cambria County; Donald Lobaugh, Freeport; Edward Ruscitti, Aliquippa; George Scott, Bridgeville; Stanley Wasik, Saxonburg; Ralph Yothers, Pitcairn; Joseph Zikmind, Turtle Creek; Edward Zolnierzak, Braddock; Botti; and Cestoni.