Sergeant Rafael Peralta’s MOH denied once again
Ex-PH2 sends us a link from NBC News which reports that Marine Corps Sergeant Rafael Peralta has been denied the Medal of Honor once again, this time by Chuck Hagel;
Hagel is the third successive defense secretary to turn down the award for Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who fellow Marines said smothered an exploding grenade under his body as he lay dying of a head wound during a battle in Iraq in 2004. He was 25.
Five members of Peralta’s squad nominated Peralta for the medal, and their cause was strongly backed by former Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a Marine veteran who represented Peralta’s hometown in Congress.
But medical examiners ruled that Peralta — who immigrated illegally to the U.S. and joined the Marines when he got his legal residency card — was already dead and couldn’t have pulled the grenade underneath his body.
Now, I wasn’t there, but then either were the “medical examiners” who say he didn’t pull the grenade under his body. But we get this link from our buddy, Nicki, from the Washington Post, wherein two people who say they were there testify that Peralta didn’t do the deed;
“It has always bugged me,” said Davi Allen, a Marine who was wounded in the grenade blast and who said he watched it detonate near, but not underneath, Peralta. After years of sticking to the prevailing narrative, Allen, 30, said he recently decided to tell the truth. “I knew it’s not the truth. But who wants to be the one to tell a family: ‘Your son was not a hero’?”
Reggie Brown, another Marine who was with Peralta that day, said that as members of the squad scrambled away from the blast, one of them said that claiming that Peralta had jumped on the grenade would be a good way to honor his legacy.
“I can remember people saying it would be the right thing to do, to say that he did more than he did,” Brown, 31, said in an interview, speaking publicly about the case for the first time. “I disagree with everything my fellow Marines proclaim to have seen.”
Like I said, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what happened, but it’s strange that five people testify to what two others deny happened. I’d guess it’s all a matter of perspective. I just think it’s f’d up that medical examiners have more of a say in this than eye witnesses- and that Hagel would put more weight to the “experts”‘ who weren’t there rather than the troops on the ground, especially given his background.
Category: Marine Corps, Military issues
Once again Higher Command ignoring Real Time Intel from the Boots on the Ground. How many times has that happened in the last 10 yrs.
Fucking disgusting… decades from now it will likely be rectified, but for now no Sec of Defense is going to overturn the decisions of his predecessor. It is bullshit that they are denying it based on a medical examiners testimony as well as the fact his Navy Cross Citation specifies he did it.
Such bullshit!! His Navy Cross Citation states he did pull the grenade under his body… this was a screw up from the get go and none of the Secretaries of Defense wants to be the one to change that. The medical examiners testimony is just their way of covering their asses.
Excuse the double post. Computer had a hiccup and I thought the first did not go through.
Reading Gate’s book and his take on this was interesting. That said medical should not be able to come into play with such awards. Anyone who has been in combat can testify to the fact they have seen things that defy logic and reality and people able to do what they should not be able to and survive more and last longer than anyone should. As I tell people when asked about my experiences I tell people I have seen humanity at its best and worst. How many MOH awards over time have had actions and wounds that it seems no human could take, and the same can be said for police and firefighters and others that have gone above and beyond despite often mortal wounds. Eyewitness accounts should and have to carry more weight.
Honestly, the fact there is ANY doubt about what happened is reason enough not to award it. It sucks, but thems the rules. If the two testifying against him recanted their testimony, then I would say give it to him. Part of me is pissed that he isn’t getting it but at the same time I understand the need to protect the dignity of the award.
Too many questions for it to go forward. Especially given the testimony of the two that were there and said it was embellished.
Awarding of medals was, is, and ALWAYS will be a sore spot for military members past or present. Unfortunately, rank, politics, and even “academy membership” sometimes come into play in the awarding of medals.
If the Marines did lie to “honor one’s legacy,” it is plain wrong.
Suppose that you knew of a circumstance, via second hand talk and nothing more, that the actions of an individual who had been killed on a mission had been enhanced in after action reports and sworn statements in order to get that individual a higher award. Should you do something? How would you go about it? Thoughts?
I spent my life interviewing eyewitnesses to various traumatic events and if there’s one thing I know, it’s if you talk to three independent observers of the same event, you’ll get five stories, minimum, of what happened. I’ve watched people view CCTV footage of events and claim the camera was wrong. Nearly every single witness to an air crash claims one or more engines were on fire, when they rarely are, because planes are ‘supposed’ to go down in flames.
That’s just the human brain, and the fact that there are inconsistencies among the squad is positive, but I’m not in their medal COC. If everyone is telling the same story, they’re reading from a script. And that’s no one’s fault, in fight-or-flight mode, the brain is not good picking up fine details and will backfill memories later, including things the person could not possibly have seen or done.
Well now I don’t know what to believe.
I agree with #11.
Which is probably why the Medal of Honor has been denied repeatedly in this case.
No matter what they decide, nothing changes the fact that Sgt Peralta is a hero who gave his life for his adopted country. Medal or no medal, that’s something that the Sgt’s family and friends can be very proud of.
Rest in peace, Sgt Peralta!