A video showing two Marines confronting a man dressed as an Army sergeant major is making the rounds on Facebook. The video, posted on Sunday from Florida, shows two Marines on funeral detail questioning a man claiming to be a battalion sergeant major, military policeman and special operator. The two catch up with him in a parking lot and begin asking him questions about his uniform — including why he’s wearing medals and ribbons at the same time. [HTML1] The Marines ask the man who his commanding officer is, and he replies, “Lt. Col. Smith.” They also ask him for…
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Marine veteran Kyle Carpenter will become the newest recipient of the Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the White House June 19 for covering a grenade to save a friend during his 2012 deployment to Marjah, Afghanistan. In anticipation of that event, the Marine Corps has released a beautiful new video showing Carpenter and his mom, Robin Carpenter, poring over old letters from boot camp and Carpenter’s deployment to Afghanistan prior to his act of heroism and the life-changing injuries that resulted. At seven minutes, the video’s a little long, but completely worth the watch. Be sure to stay…
We recently learned that Gunnery Sgt. Richard A. Jibson would become the latest Marine to receive the Navy Cross for heroism in Afghanistan. The Secretary of the Navy will present the award during a ceremony tomorrow at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Andrew Owensby, a sailor who worked Jibson to save the life of a wounded comrade during a five-hour fire fight in Mazr Abad Janubi, Afghanistan, will receive the Bronze Star for the same action. Their jaw-dropping medal citations and summaries of action which give minute-by-minute breakdowns of their actions…
Before Capt. Christopher Ashinhurst was selected for the Leftwich Trophy, honoring the Marines’ top ground forces captain, he was awarded a Bronze Star with combat valor device for heroism leading his company during a grueling five-day battle against insurgents, and later rallying to the aid of coalition troops at Combat Outpost Shir Ghazay following a suicide car bombing that left seven Georgian soldiers dead. The commander of Delta Company, 1st Tanks Battalion, Ashinhurst proved calm under fire, assessing casualties and directing Marines even after being hit on the head with a wooden divider after a blast destroyed his company office.…
The years-long push to award fallen Sgt. Rafael Peralta the Medal of Honor seemed ended for good in February, when Chuck Hagel became the third Defense Secretary to decline to seek the higher award for the Marine, who allegedly saved the lives of fellow Marines in his final moments by pulling a live grenade under him during a fight with insurgents in Fallujah in 2004. Peralta received the Navy Cross, the military’s second-highest honor, in 2008. Since then, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has spearheaded a series of efforts to see him receive a higher award, unearthing new evidence and witnesses…
This post is from our friends at Navy Times. You can check out the full story in Monday’s issue of Marine Corps Times. His squad had come under heavy fire – and was likely to face it again. On June 22, 2012, Hospitalman Zackery Penner had risked life and limb to rush to care for a Marine shot during an patrol in Afghanistan with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. The Marine died due to the severity of his wound, a toll that hung heavy on the company. On June 23, the squad was helping Afghan soldiers clear a compound when they…
The mother of fallen Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta is accusing a Washington Post reporter of “playing the race card” when interviewing her about accounts of her son’s heroic actions. The accusation comes in the wake of a story by Ernesto Londono quoting Marines who say Peralta never covered a live grenade in Fallujah to save his comrades, as his Medal of Honor nomination attested. Two Marines in Peralta’s unit suggested the story of Peralta’s extraordinary heroism had been following his death, in light of the fact he was likely killed as a result of friendly fire, according to the story.…
Explosive new claims that challenge the truth of the accounts that made fallen Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta a candidate for the military’s highest honor are sending shock waves through the Marine Corps community, and some eyewitnesses are firing back. The new accounts surfaced in a Washington Post report by Ernesto Londono, published as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Friday he would not be giving Peralta, who was killed during a house-clearing mission in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004, a third look for the Medal of Honor. In the report, two Marines who were with Peralta on his final mission say he…
A fallen corporal who is one of two members of the Corps to receive the Medal of Honor for heroism in Iraq and Afghanistan, will have a building named in his honor aboard the base where Marines conduct their predeployment training. A ceremony for the dedication of the Cpl. Jason L. Dunham Hall will be held on Feb. 18, at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., according to a news release. “The Combat Center dedicates this facility to one of its own Marines, who paid the ultimate sacrifice, saving the lives of his fellow Marines, while deployed…
[HTML1] We’ve uncovered a 2011 interview with Medal of Honor recipient Capt. John J. McGinty, III who recently passed away at age 73 in Beaufort, S.C. In the video by the publishers of ‘Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty’ McGinty recounts the harrowing 1966 battle for which he earned the medal. On July 15 of that year, his company was in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, when they were assaulted by wave after wave of a North Vietnamese Army battalion. He and his men narrowly survived the hours-long fight after calling in danger-close air support and…
