Posted on 09/18/2008 11:14:36 PM PDT by reasonmclucus
According to the secretary of the Navy, Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta gave his life to save his comrades in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004, grabbing a hostile grenade, pulling it to his body and absorbing the brunt of the blast. President Bush later praised Peralta as a hero. But a decision by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates not to recommend him for the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor, stirred an outcry yesterday by his family and Marines whose lives he saved. Peralta instead will be posthumously awarded the second-highest award for valor in combat, the Navy Cross, the military announced Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I do have respect for him, and I respect the statements of those who saw him act.
My jest was not aimed at those who said that he pulled the grenade to him. It was aimed at those who said he was dead before he did it. And it was meant to honor the marine by implying that he had enough will power to act on behalf of his fellow man even when dead.
I missed that. Strange, it says he reached out and pulled the grenade to himself. That sounds like valor to me.
He was a heroic US marine, who enlisted the day he got his Green card. He deserves the MOH.
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