If not for Leroy Petry's quick and brave act three years ago, Luke Robinson wouldn't be pursuing his college plans in Florida.

They would have died three years ago on a battlefield in Afghanistan.

On Memorial Day 2008, Army Ranger Staff Sgt. Petry, already shot in both legs and wounded by shrapnel, lost a hand lobbing an enemy grenade away from Gaston County-raised Robinson and another Ranger.

Tuesday at a White House ceremony, President Barack Obama will make Petry (pronounced: pea-tree) the second living American to receive the Medal of Honor during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seven others have been posthumously issued the country's highest honor for valor.

Robinson, 22, now a college student in Tallahassee, will be there to witness.

He thinks about some part of that day, every day. All the Rangers served with courage, he said. But Petry took bravery "to a higher level."

"He could have crawled away and left the scene," Robinson said Friday, waiting for a flight to Charlotte. "He decided to risk his own life to try and save us. In the end, he saved all three of us.

"I'm sure we'd all like to say we would have done the same thing. But until the moment presents itself, you never know."

Risking his life

Petry, a 31-year-old father of four from Santa Fe, N.M., was on his eighth tour in Iraq and Afghanistan when he and 70 Rangers from the Army's 2nd battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, staged a rare daytime helicopter assault on a compound of buildings in Paktia province. The compound housed dozens of insurgents.

The outer buildings were quickly cleared and the Rangers focused on a targeted building.

Petry and Robinson, a private first class, were clearing a courtyard to assist another squad, when three insurgents suddenly opened fire with AK-47s. Petry was wounded in both legs; Robinson was hit by a round in the side plate of his armored vest that would leave "a significant scar."

The two found cover behind a chicken coop. Petry threw a grenade that allowed Sgt. Daniel Higgins to join them to assess their wounds.

Suddenly, an enemy grenade exploded near the coop, hitting Petry and Robinson with shrapnel.

Seconds later, another grenade landed "within a meter" of Robinson and Higgins. Petry could have pulled himself behind a wall to evade the grenade. But, seeing his comrades in danger, he pushed forward, grabbed it and threw it away from any threat.

As he did, it blew up, tearing off his right hand.

Still, Petry, the senior non-commissioned officer in the fight, tied tourniquets around his legs and right arm and continued to direct other Rangers to secure the area.

As is customary for those set to receive the Medal of Honor, Petry has declined interviews.

On the day his medal was announced, he said in statement: "It's very humbling to know that the guys thought that much of me and my actions that day, to nominate me for that."

Family owes gratitude

Robinson is certain he and Higgins wouldn't have survived the grenade blast.

"The three of us would have been vegetables - or dead," he said. "The grenade was that close."

He is the eighth generation of Robinsons to grow up on a dairy farm the family settled in 1772 between Kings Mountain and Bessemer City.

Luke was born in Colorado, where his father, Matt, was stationed in the Army. The family moved to the farm in Gaston County when Luke was 3, and he went to public schools in Kings Mountain.

It wasn't unexpected that Luke joined the Army straight out of Kings Mountain High in 2006. "Since I was a little boy, I heard my dad talk about the Army and that's what I wanted to do," Luke said. "The Rangers sounded cool and I wanted to be one."

He enlisted the day after he turned 18. He was on his first three-month deployment when he nearly lost his life.

Tammy and Matt had just returned from the beach after the long Memorial Day weekend when the phone rang.

It was Luke. He was calling from a hospital in Afghanistan. He'd been hurt, but was OK. He wanted them to know before the Red Cross called.

In 2009, Matt and Tammy flew to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state to see Luke. There, they met Petry. Tammy hugged him.

"We thank God for Sgt. Petry; we owe him a lot of gratitude," Tammy said, choking up. "There are no words to describe how special he is to this family."

Matt, himself on National Guard duty, tried: "He's just what I expected. He's a good man. Humble even after what he did. I know my son wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for Sgt. Petry."

After he recuperated, Luke was deployed on a second tour in Afghanistan. He's been out of the Army for two months.

Petry is still in the Army, now a sergeant first class. He's assigned to counsel wounded Rangers back from Afghanistan.

For now, Luke is taking courses at Tallahassee Community College so he can get into a four-year school. He plans to re-enter the Army in four years and become a commissioned officer.

But Tuesday, he'll be in Washington to honor a friend who saved his life - and hopefully shake the president's hand.