This story makes my blood boil. Sgt. Rafael Peralta performed his duties with great honor which reflect great credit upon his Nation, his Corps and his family. To have his degree of official recognition down graded on questions of detail and conjecture is the grossest injustice.
For those of you who say, “Sgt. Who?” I will briefly recount the story to the best of my recollection. During the intense room to room combat that was the second battle of Fallujah, Sgt. Peralta volunteered to be a part of a squad of Marines clearing houses. In the process they cleared a house save for one locked door. The Marines stacked up outside the door and Sgt. Peralta kicked the door in. He was shortly felled by rifle fire, bullet wounds to the neck and lower head. He fell to one side of the door as the Marines behind him exchanged fire with the combatants in the room.
A grenade was lobbed from the open door and landed beside Sgt. Peralta. He reached for it and pulled it under his body thus shielding his fellow Marines from grave injury and likely death.
Medal of Honor? I would think so. I thought so when I heard this story the first time, very briefly after it happened. It has been announced that he will instead receive the Navy Cross, which I do not in any way mean to impugn. In this case, it is an unjust honor.
The “Marine who witnesses say covered a grenade with his body to save comrades in Iraq,” deserves better, as does his family. He is being denied, “because the nomination was tainted by reports he was accidentally shot by a fellow Marine.” Whether or not he was felled, mortally wounded, by gunfire does not detract from the act of pulling the grenade under his body to shield his fellow Marines.
It was initially reported that he was wounded by AK-47 fire from inside the room, the origin of the rounds that gravely wounded Sgt. Peralta do not make them any less lethal. There is no such animal as “Friendly fire.”
“The question about whether to award Peralta the Medal of Honor centers on whether the mortally wounded Marine, who was shot in the head and upper body, could have intentionally reached for the grenade and covered it with his body.
There was conflicting evidence in the case of Sgt. Peralta as to whether he could have [pents,] Peralta lay mortally wounded on the floor of a house and grabbed a grenade lobbed by fleeing insurgents. His body absorbed the blast and he died immediately.”
Apparently these Marines have not read the account in, “Lone Survivor” of Petty Officer Second Class Matthew Axelson. During the fire fight which became the largest single loss of life in the history of the Navy Seals this brave warrior was wounded multiple times and indeed one of the wounds, most assuredly from AK-47 fire, was a most traumatic head wound. He fought on. When he and Marcus Luttrell separated the final time, he exhorted, “Marcus, you’ve got to live.”
In the aftermath of the battle, Marcus learned that Axelson was not found where they parted company. Instead he had managed to gain his feet and fought on until he had expended all of his ammunition. A great blow to Marcus.
It is pure conjecture then to assert whether or not Sgt. Peralta could possibly have consciously pulled the grenade under his body. “…Forensic analysis of Peralta's clothing and flak jacket show the grenade was underneath him when it exploded.” Does this board offer conjecture as to how this grenade came to be under Sgt. Peralta? Did the enemy combatants place it there for maximum effectiveness? Did one of the other quick thinking Marines push it there to save himself and his comrades? Of course not, any explanation beside Sgt. Peralta’s act of self sacrifice is absurd and not a little insulting to the intellect of anyone thinking objectively.
I will allow here that the board reviewing this matter felt honor bound by the regulations that are very strict in the awarding the Medal of Honor. If so, I hold them faultless, but it should not leave Sgt. Peralta’s family bereft of what should be bestowed with all pomp and circumstance possible.
Regardless of whether Rafael Peralta was mortally wounded by gunfire from questionable origin is a negligible detail to the level of honor displayed by his final act. We do not award the CMH to Marines for being killed in combat, but rather for conspicuous acts of courage above and beyond the call of duty.
This should not stand.
