SCRANTON --- Family and friends gave Nick Staback a standing ovation at a picnic in Mcdade park Tuesday evening.
The 22-year old is back home, one week after he was honored in Florida with a national American hero award from UNICO national, an Italian-American service organization.
"I don`t see how i deserve it. Its just that i was doing my job, i volunteered for it. Knew it was a possibility. Just a bad day in the office, really, " said Staback.
Nick lost both of his legs and injured his arm when an improvised explosive device detonated during a foot patrol in Afghanistan in 2011.
The Army SPC learned to walk again on prosthetic legs with the help of doctors at Walter Reed Medical Center.
When he fell at home in Scranton, his parents say he always got back up.
"Everybody would run and he would just pick himself up and we`d have a laugh on it. And he just kept on going. Never stopped," said his mom, Maria Staback.
""I knew he wouldn't lay down and ya know, be one of those people that wasn't going to continue on. As you see, he shows that everyday," said his dad, Edward Staback.
The grandson of former, longtime State Representative Ed Staback says he officially retired from the army, earlier this year.
Nick hopes to one day work in private security.
For now, he says he's enjoying downtime here at home.