Born on February 5, 1895, in Cassino, Italy, Valente immigrated to the United States and joined the Army in 1917 from Ogdensburg, New York. On 27 September 1918, while serving in Company D of the 107th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division, his unit was participating in an assault on the Hindenburg Line east of Ronssoy when it was held up by intense machine gun fire. With another man, Valente voluntarily moved forward and silenced two machine gun nests, attacked a trench, and killed five Germans and captured 21 others before being wounded. President Herbert Hoover presented him the Congressional Medal of Honor on 27 Sept 1929 on the White House lawn. He passed away at age 80 and is buried in the Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, NY.