He Gave It All For 'His Boys'

First Medal Of Honor From Iraq Hostilities Being Awarded

(CBS)  On Monday, the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, will be given to a soldier who served in Iraq, the first such award for that conflict.

Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, a veteran of the first Gulf War, was 33 when died in combat in the early days of the current hostilities in Iraq.

President Bush will present his family with the medal on the anniversary of his death.

CBS News Correspondent Tracy Smith has the recipient's story, and The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen speaks with his wife.

Tracy Smith says the honor is so prestigious that Gen. George Patton once said he'd sell his immortal soul for that medal, and Harry Truman said he'd prefer it to being president.

"Paul was very shy person," Smith's wife, Birgit, told Chen Monday. "He would be embarrassed right now. He never wanted to stand in the spotlight and get anything. It was just Paul. ...He would say we're overdoing it -- he just did what he had to do that day."

But, adds Birgit, she can't even put into words how overwhelmingly proud she is.

And the stories she hears from members of her late husband's platoon make her even prouder, she said to Chen: "They're all very glad he did what he did that day, because they made it home (due to his actions). Of course, they are -- their hearts ache, still, but they're very glad that they made it home."

What's more, "Their mothers and wives are writing me and letting me know how thankful they are and they are sorry that Paul lost his life, but they're very thankful their sons and husbands made it home."