Herron: Give Peralta the Medal of Honor

So far, there have been four Medals of Honor awarded to American soldiers fighting in Iraq. The fifth is long overdue.

Sgt. Rafael Peralta was born in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1979. He immigrated to the United States and attended Morse High School in San Diego. He enlisted in the U.S. Marines the same day that he obtained his green card. He would become an American citizen while serving and would eventually die defending his adopted country.

The walls of his bedroom were not covered with prurient posters and other youthful things that men his age typically displayed. Instead, there hung just three items: a copy of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and his boot camp graduation certificate. In the final letter sent to his younger brother Ricardo, Peralta wrote, “Be proud of being an American. Our father came to this country, became a citizen because it was the right place for our family to be,” according to the book “Home of the Brave.”

On the morning of Nov. 15, 2004, Peralta and his fellow Marines awoke in the city of Fallujah ­—a terrifying labyrinth of alleyways and corridors full of armed and trained insurgents. The city contained countless munitions, artillery, anti-armor devices and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The tactics used by the insurgents had been unexpected and frightening. The Battle of Fallujah would be hell, but every marine knew it had to be fought.

Peralta was a platoon scout, which gave him the opportunity to avoid direct exposure to front-line assaults. As a soldier who always looked for ways to help out other Marines, he volunteered to join a patrol. That day, Peralta and his comrades approached a house that likely contained insurgent foes. Immediately after Peralta kicked in a door, he was shot — at point-blank range — in the upper body and face. As he fell, he made sure to fall out of the way of his fellow Marines so that they could continue to fight.

While Peralta lay on the ground, mortally wounded, “a yellow, foreign-made, oval-shaped grenade bounced into the room” and landed near his body, according to an account in Stars and Stripes. With his final act, Peralta grabbed the grenade, cradled it into his body and awaited its fatal detonation. Peralta showed courage, heroism, sacrifice and a blatant disregard for his own well-being. He also saved lives.

“He saved half my fire team,” Cpl. Brannon Dyer said, according to the Moderate Voice. Lance Cpl. T.J. Kaemmerer recalled the evening after Peralta’s heroic death. “Cpl. Richard A. Mason, an infantryman with Headquarters Platoon told me, ‘You’re still here, don’t forget that. Tell your kids, your grandkids, what Sgt. Peralta did for you and the other Marines today,’” he said.

As he should have been, Peralta was nominated for the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration a member of the armed forces can receive and one given to those who distinguish themselves “conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States.” Peralta did just that, but he has not been awarded the medal.

A panel convened by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates determined that, because of the seriousness of Peralta’s head wounds, he couldn’t have been able to conscientiously and intentionally reach for the grenade. His fellow Marines disagree and are outraged. “It wasn’t just something he barely did. He physically reached out and pulled it into his body,” Lance Cpl. Robert Reynolds said. Lt. Gen. Richard F. Natonski said, “Sgt. Peralta made a conscious, heroic decision to cover the grenade and minimize the effects he knew it would have on the rest of his Marine team.”

In a letter to President Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-San Diego, a veteran of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote, “The decision contradicts the eyewitness accounts of those Marines that were fighting alongside Sgt. Peralta and witnessed his heroic actions. These accounts should take precedence,” according to the North County Times.

For his courage, Peralta was rightly awarded the Navy Cross. His citation reads: “By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit and unwavering devotion to duty, Sgt. Peralta reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.”

It’s time that the Department of Defense reconsider its prior decision and initiate a more appropriate deliberation of whether Peralta deserves the Medal of Honor.

Peralta’s younger sister, just a teenager, is concerned about her brother’s legacy. “I know that right now, people are really nice and everything,” she said, “But I know that when it comes to later on, they are going to forget him.”

We should not. We cannot. We won’t.

E-mail Mason at mph20@pitt.edu.