We went decades without awarding a MoH to a living recipient. We will soon see SSG Sal Giunta change that and he will likely be joined by others including Marine CPL Dakota Meyer. With no air or artillery support, the Marines of Embedded Training Team 2-8 were trapped deep in a kill zone in eastern Afghanistan. Their radios worked only sporadically, and dozens of insurgents fired on them repeatedly from three sides... After helicopter pilots called on to respond said fighting was too fierce for them to land, Meyer, then 21, charged into the kill zone on foot to find his friends. Under heavy fire, he reached a trench where the pilots had spotted the Marines, by then considered missing. He found Johnson, 31; Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, 30; 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, 25; Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class James Layton, 22; and an Afghan soldier they were training — all dead and bloody from gunshot wounds. They were spread out in the ditch, their weapons and radios stolen... Rather than give up, Meyer, of Greensburg, Ky., fought to bring his buddies back home. Bleeding from his shrapnel wound and still under fire, he carried their bodies back to a Humvee with the help of Afghan troops, and escorted them to nearby Forward Operating Base Joyce, about a mile to the northeast of Ganjgal. There are many questions about the incident that led to the losses of the men who CPL Meyer brought home, but none about his bravery in risking his life to ensure they left no man behind.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/6tgp2Ef_L9A/living-marine-nominated-for-the-medal-of-honor.html
Posted
Nov 09 2010, 12:36 AM
by
BLACKFIVE