Posted on 09/18/2008 8:35:40 PM PDT by goldstategop
Well, if he really fell on a grenade(not saying he didn't, just don't know because I haven't read the article yet), then he should get the medal. A large number of winners of the Medal fell on grenades to save lives of their buddies. Read the orders of Medal winners, time after time in WWII, Korea and Viet Nam, Medal winners fell on grenades. Most of them died in doing so, a very small number lived to collect the Medal. Our country is denying this man the Medal, why are they doing so? What is the purpose behind denying it?
We need to know all the particulars before we really raise he** because to win the Medal you have to meet very special criteria.
That said I will now finish reading the article and see if I can find the "Attention to Orders" part of it.
I would think they would tend to believe the eye witness accounts of the people whose asses were saved but at the same time they do have very strict criteria for the Medal. That is why it is set above all other medals.
They didn't do it for racial reasons as this article and his family seem to imply, as there have been other members of the armed forces who were of Mexican(and other races as well) blood receive the medal.
On the other hand it seems to me that if he simply fell on the grenade or is simply rolled under him without him actually pulling it toward him they would not be justified in giving him any medal at all, let alone the second highest medal.
His buddies saw him pull the grenade under him. Sometimes the will to save others transcends injuries. Some men perform miracles before they die, miracles they shouldn't have been able to do.
I do think his family should accept the Cross and keep fighting for the Medal, they disgrace the name of this true patriot when they refuse the Cross. I am sure this man would have taken it and not felt as if he were being cheated. After all, combat isn't a medal contest and he didn't join in order to win medals but to fight for a country he obviously loved.
Thanks for your analysis. You know a hell of a lot more about this stuff than I do!
“But a committee of doctors and military figures insists that heroism isn’t involved since Peralta was shot in the head and could not have survived before he used his body to shield his fellow soldiers from the grenade.”
I saw a guy get out of a car that had been hit with like 300 rounds once...this guy has been hit in the head..neck..he has his thumb stuck in his neck..been hit in the arms..all over the place...guy gets out of his car and walks into a hospital...idk...people can take rounds in the head and the wounds can sometimes not be instantly in and off themselves fatal.
I don’t know what the medical report was on this fallen hero but even with self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head it is not uncommon to see that the person had survived the first round long enough to put one or two more in their head.
(*note NOT implying this Marine shot himself, just pointing out head wounds and actions that can be carried out after they are infllcted) :(
Godspeed
Correction:
and the wounds can sometimes not be instantly in and off themselves fatal.
and the wounds can sometimes not be instantly in and of themselves fatal.
Correction: Earning the Navy Cross is a great honor.
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the NAVY CROSS posthumously to
Marines, not soldiers.
No such thing as a CMO.
But that takes the votes of 575(sic) Congressmen and Senators.
Incorrect.
> Basically he fell on a live grenade and saved several of his comrades.
He fell on a live grenade to save his fellow marines after already being shot multiple times and continuing to fight on.
> Does anybody out there know why there are so very few medal-winners in this war compared with earlier wars? It always strikes me as odd.
If I had to guess, I’d say the “Anti-War Congress”, brought to you by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
The government is awarding him the Navy Cross, no small affair. They believe they are giving him his due. Why do you believe they are not?
Awarding the Medal of Honor does not require an act of Congress, so your guess would be wrong.
> Awarding the Medal of Honor does not require an act of Congress, so your guess would be wrong.
I didn’t mean to imply that Congress was in charge of awards, but that they influence the people who are.
There’s nothing wrong with winning. St. Paul uses the metaphor of winning a race in this sense. Too use two biblical metahpors, he fought the good fight, he put his all into it and won the race.
Perhaps I should have said that “to have been awarded the Navy Cross is a great honor.” No question that he performed heroically. Debbie Schussel seems to gloss over the fact that he was awarded the Navy’s second highest medal, so it was certainly not a case that the board denied that he was a hero.
Did he fall on the granade or did he knowingly place himself there.
Like the above post said, not disparaging the soldier, just want to know. Remember we are getting these details 3rd and 4th hand.
This medal is so esteemed. As a greatful citizen I want to know if the recepients earned these.
I can’t help feel that there is something we don’t know about this situation. Otherwise if it is in fact that he did put himself there deliberately, I don’t see why they did not award the medal.
These matters are in the military perview and second guessing them in this matter does not sit well with me.
On the contrary, we have the details first hand, from the soldiers who were there in the room and personally witnessed what happened. Their statements are unequivocal- he consciously cradled the grenade under his body and saved their lives. Whether or not he would have died anyway, which I certainly think he would have, seems to me to be petty quibbling. There's no controverting the fact that his last conscious act was to save the lives of his friends.
Have you read the reports? I am absolutely not saying he does not deserve it. Please Please do not misunderstand what I am saying ok?
I have not read them. All I am saying is, there must be something else they are not saying. Sometimes we see what we want to see. They say the forensics do not match the observations of the fellow soldiers. Before I sign on to the chorus, I want to be sure as much as possible.
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