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emotional ceremony at white house for a soldier that bolted in the line of fire to save his comrades. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. perhaps because the news here has been so grim of late, there was an explosion of interest around the globe today when word first broke this morning that prince william, a future king of england, is engaged to marry kate middleton. the two will wed in the spring or summer of 2011. americans of a certain age were instantly transported back to the wedding of william's mother, diana. her ring is now worn by kate middleton. prince charles, the groom back then, remains next in line to the throne and will immediately become father of the groom. jim muceda is in buckingham palace. >> reporter: hi, there, brian. prince william and kate

middleton have been a couple most of their adult lives and this is the most anticipated of royal events. when the announcement came today it hit like a bombshell. today, william and his bride-to-be appeared at saint james palace as a engaged couple. kate showed off her stunning diamond and sapphire engagement ring with the same one worn by princess diana, echoing back almost 30 years. >> she's not around to share in the fun and excitement and this is my way of keeper her sort of close to it all. >> he's a true -- >> reporter: these, the first words many had ever heard kate middleton speak. william said the couple discussed marriage for months and they he popped the question on a private safari trip to kenya last month. >> we were out there with friends and things so i really didn't expect it at all. i thought he might have thought about it but, you know, it was a total shock when it came and very excited.

>> why did william wait so many years? mostly, he said, to protect kate and her family. >> i have been waiting this long because it wanted to give her a chance to see and back out if she needed to. >> reporter: unlike the aristocratic diana, kate is from a close-knit middle-class family with a highly successful business in party wares. they met at st. andrew's university in scotland and were just friends the first year sharing a love of art history and a keen sense of humor. >> she's a run of the mill ordinary girl that managed to land the heart of a prince. >> royal watchers say it's her loyalty and discretion who hooked prince william. >> she kind of nurtures prince william. she's very supportive. and i think kate middleton has the sort of credentials that i think will make prince william, possibly, one of the most popular kings, obviously, for many a year. >> reporter: and reaction today in a country hit hard by recession and cutbacks has been overwhelmingly positive. >> the country is under a bit of

pressure at the moment and this will really help the country in getting -- feeling good about itself again. >> i want to marry prince william but she's beautiful and she's down to earth and she's a proper english lady. >> reporter: from this happy day on the lives of william and kate will never be the same. and tonight, prince harry weighed in as well saying he was delighted that his brother popped the question and he's finally getting the sister he's always wanted. brian? >> what a time in london. our own jim muceda starting off the reporting. the ring blongd to diana. in an interview with britain's itv the britons revealed more details about the moment when he gave the ring to his fiance' during the vacation in kenya. >> i've been carrying it around with me in my rock sack for about three weeks before that and i literally would not let it go. everywhere i went i wouldn't let it disappear i knew if it

disappeared i would be in trouble. >> it's very, very special. >> we're like dogs, calm on the surface but little feet under the water. but, really exciting. we've been talking about it for a long time and we were friends for over a year first. and we spent more time with each other and had a giggle and had lots of fun. >> actually, i think he said -- i'm bright red when i was feeling very shy about meeting you and it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other but we did become, you know, very close friends from quite early on. >> and it just sort of blossomed from there, really. we saw more of each other and hung out a bit more and did stuff, so, yeah. >> you like my cook something. >> her cooking is all right. it got better. >> i cooked at the university and it would always come with a bit of angst. >> i was trying to impress kate and i would try to cook these amazing dinners and all that

would happen is i would burn something, something would catch on fire and she would be sitting in the background and just help and taking control of the whole situation and it just went from there. over the years, i knew things were getting better and better and we went through a stumbling blocks as every relationship does. but that was just, you know, we were both very young. it was at university and we were sort of both defining ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff. >> i think that at the time, i wasn't very happy about it but actually, it made me a stronger person. you find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realized or, i think, you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you're younger. i really valued that time for me as well, although i didn't think it at the time. you could only be sort of true to yourself and you sort of have to ignore a lot of what's said, obviously take it on board but you know, you have to be yourself, really and that's how i've stuck by it really. >> it's about carving your own

future and no one is going to try to fill my mother's shoes and what she did is fantastic. it's about making your own future and your own destiny and kate will do a very good job of that. >> and about prince charles, the father of the groom and the future king of england. this entire question of what it would be like for his son, william, came up during a portion of our interview with the prince of wales which we taped in scotland to air this coming friday night. being that you were involved in one of the celebrated global events, your wedding to princess diana, do you have words of advice for your son, william? how could you possibly advise your son upon embarking on this, in an even worse media environment. >> that's the problem, isn't it? because their full of -- it's constant lecturing and advice. so it isn't very easy. >> he's under a microscope already and he's just a

helicopter pilot. >> don't take the advice of the media is ply advice. >> but how could he possibly? >> i know. it's very intrusive, indeed. and i feel for him deeply. because, i mean, in my day it was difficult enough. >> small part of our conversation. a small part of our hour-long "dateline" special, airing this friday night at 9:00, 8:00 central and tomorrow night, a special "dateline" hour about william and kate and the story of this engagement. that's at 8:00, 7:00 central here on nbc. we now turn to other news, specifically news out of washington. veteran new york democratic congressman charles rangel was convicted today by his peers in the house on 11 out of 13 counts of ethics' violations, most over finances and income. the ethic's committee said his actions brought dishonor on the house. rangel said the verdict was unfair. he walked out of his own hearing yesterday complaining he could no longer afford a lawyer under

the rules. just re-elected to a 21st term in congress, representing harlem welcome rangel is likely to face a formal letter of reprimand censure. the choice flyers face of the full-body scan or the full-body pat-down. some airline passenger groups are urging travelers to take part in a kind of active civil di di disobedience and opt out of both during next week's thanksgiving rush. the head of the tsa said people won't be allowed to duck it even if they try to do so on religious grounds. tom costello who covers aviation for us is in our washington newsroom. tom, good evening. >> reporter: that was the question put to the tsa chief on capitol hill. the message was no passenger can be allowed to circumvent the full body scanners or patdowns

on religious growns. if anyone refuses, they simply won't be allowed to fly. it may be a matter of bad timing. the tsa's very personal patdowns started as it rolls out it's 385th scanner, catching airline crews and passengers off guard. in kansas city, trish thought her patdown got way too personal. >> she went up my legs and used her hand to go up my skirt that's when i freaked out. >> amid growing passenger concern, the man that runs the tsa told congress today finding the delicate balance between security and privacy is a constant challenge. >> i think everybody who gets on a flight wants to ensure and be assured that everybody else around them has been properly screened. >> reporter: now an internet-led call for passengers to resist the new procedures over the thanksgiving holiday has the tsa and airlines on alert. the concern, if a significant

number of passengers elect to boycott the scanners and patdowns, security delays could grow and travelers could miss their flights. triple-a predicted 1.6 mth passengers will fly over thanksgiving week. 400,000 more than last year. >> i think we would all be concerned because the potential to make those lines even longer and that day even more difficult for people is real. >> reporter: while the tsa chief suggests that pilots could be exempt from going through full-body scanners pilots insist their passengers should be scanned or patted down. >> as a pilot i can tell you i definitely want my passengers to go through some sort of screening. >> reporter: a recent poll found 81% of americans support the use of full-body scanners but, brian, that doesn't mean they like them. >> tom, thanks. overseas this evening, the death toll from the cholera epidemic in haiti now stands at over 1,000. for a second day, frustration over the outbreak erupted in violence. protesters have come to believe cholera was brought to haiti by

u.n. troops on earthquake relief duty. at a field hospital today, our own kerry sanders tells us he saw two young brothers who were barely holding on, their parents and two other siblings, with cholera, died on route to the hospital. former vice president dick cheney made a rare public appearance today and there was an audible reaction from the audience when he appeared on stage at the ground breaking for the george w. bush presidential library in texas. mr. cheney as you know has been struggling with heart problems today, looking frail and rather gaunt, walking with a cane, but energetic enough that he nonetheless, used the opportunity to criticize the obama administration. when "nightly news" continues in just a moment, an honor for a young man who, as the president of the united states put it today, represents what america is all about! and later, remembering another royal wedding. the whole world was watching then, too.

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we want to turn now to what happened if the white house today. the president awarded the medal of honor this nation's highest military decoration to a young staff sergeant who's already a combat veteran of the war in afghanistan. when we met miami in washington yesterday, staff sergeant salvato salvatore giunta said he heard this at the mall. he got his t-shirt and listened. he then went home and broke it to his parents that an army career appealed to him.

fast-forward to today. sal giunta was hailed by president obama as the best shining example of the u.s. armed forces. >> it is my privilege to present our nation's highest military decoration, the medal of honor, to a soldier as humble as he is heroic, staff sergeant salvatore giunta. >> and with that a soldier from iowa joined a long line of this nation's very best, dating back to the civil >> i'm going to go off script here for a second and just say, i really like this guy. [ applause ] >> his active valor tack place during a fierce fire fight in afghanistan's remote valley. his platoon was pinned down when he saw two insurgents carrying off his mortally wounded

sergeant. he ran into the oncoming fire and killed one insurgent and wounded the other and dragged his friend to cover. sergeant joshua brennan later died following the firefighter that left two americans dead and five wounded. >> the thing that i did that is so well documented now and so talked about over and over again, i was only able to do that because everyone else was doing everything they could. there was nothing else for me to do but that. if i didn't do that i would be wrong. >> he's the first living recipient of the medal of honor in nearly 40 years. the last recipient who was alive to receive the nation's top military honor served during the vietnam war. >> this medal today is a testament to his uncommon valor but also, to the parents and the community that raised him. the military that trained him. and all of the men and women who served by his side. >> and when the president places the medal around your neck, you

will, in fact, feel that you're wearing it for a whole bunch of guys and you'll get there, mentally. but i guess you realize that's the journey you have to be on now? >> it's all kind of falling into place that way. but there's no way i can wear the medal of honor for myself. i can't. it's too big for me. i can't bear that myself. it's not for me. if i'm going to be the one that's up there and gets it, that's fine. but by no means is that mine. i'm just the one there at the time. it's for all these people. from iraq and afghanistan. all of these unsung heroes. >> what an incredible young man. the last seven medal of honor recipients, by the way, were killed in action in iraq and afghanistan. as of today, he's the 87th living recipient of the medal of honor. we'll take a break and up next when our broad cast continues, it's been a long and winding road but the beatles have finally arrived in a very special place.

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of us what depend on the web for our music and those of us who are beatles fans. after years of legal disputes, they are now on i tunes which, by the way, is the number way per have a or of music in this country. a big missing link in the i tunes music line. individual tracks are $1.29 a piece and albums are there including a special box set of collected beatles' works for $149. what are people buying up during the first day of beatles' available? at last check "here comes the sun" was the top-selling single. and "abbey road" the highest charting song. and president obama's book hit the stores. this one is a children's book called "of thee i sing" a letter to my daughters. sacha, malia and the family dog, bo, on the cover. the president tells the stories of accomplished americans with

traits the president says, he sees in all children. by the way, the proceed also go to charity. scholarships for the children of american service members. >> up next here tonight, we go back overseas for more on the bombshell out of the uk. as the whole world prepares to watch again, as we have before. except your doctor or their staff. and don't tell anyone your card or social security number over the phone. guard your card. [ woman 2 ] i hear unauthorized card use is a big source of fraud. the new healthcare law lets us crack down on criminals and win against fraud. making medicare stronger. and speaking of winning... [ man 2 ] not again! [ man ] learn more at stopmedicarefraud.gov. until the combination of three good probiotics in phillips' colon health defended against the bad gas, diarrhea and constipation. ...and? it helped balance her colon. oh, now that's the best part. i love your work. [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health.

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finally here tonight as we said, the whole world is watching prince william and his fiance', kate middleton announcing their engagement today taking those very first public steps into what will be a very public life. and in many ways it feels like a return engagement of sorts. the fascination being expressed today seems very familiar to a lot of people. more tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: even before the age of celebrity, it would be mesmerizing. a month daern-day cinderella marrying into britain's royal family. their romance reminds us of childhood fairytales and princess fantasies and the tragedy of love's labor lost. >> i'm amazed that she's been brave enough to take me on. and i expose, in that, of course whatever "in love" means.

>> we've always been fascinated by all things royal. >> not in a usual, pop-culture reality show, pedestrian celebrity round. they are still above it. they are still about history. about pedigree and about homes. still about all of these things which really excite the public as a romantic idea and in these grim times it's kind of escapist. the romance, the weddings -- >> and here is the moment they've been waiting for. >> the hats. >> ladies and gentlemen, the bridegroom. >> reporter: but no royal wedding was as enchanting as charles and diana, broadcast live to 750 million people watching around the world. less than a year later diana produced an heir. she was a everyone's fairy princess taking the colony by storm as britain's royalty met hollywood royalty. through all the sadness and scandal that followed no one ever questioned the magical connection she shared with her

boys. in tragedy, she became immortal. as the world grooefd for her sons. prince william, with matt lauer ten years after his mother's death. >> not a day that goes by that i don't think about her once in the day. so for us, it is a very slow -- it has been a long time. >> reporter: today, giving diana's ring to kate, prince william completed the circle with his mother. >> this is my way of keeping her close it to all. >> reporter: and she, bringing the public closer to the royal family. msnbc martin bashir conducted a have a house interview with britain says diana. >> that means many ordinary folk, if you like, feel they have a part in this because they can see, mirrored in their own lives, the life of kate middleton. >> reporter: as a kingdom greets its future princess with memories of a princess past. andrea mitchell, nbc news, new york. we've posted a wealth of additional material on the web.

the full interview with prince william and his fiance', fascinating conversation from today, as well as lots of material from our nbc news archives. all of it available at nightly nightly@msnbc.com. thanks for being with us. i'm brian williams. as always, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com