Report: Marine to get Medal of Honor for Afghanistan actions
Dakota Meyer participates in a celebrity shooting tournament earlier this year.
July 20th, 2011
12:32 PM ET

Report: Marine to get Medal of Honor for Afghanistan actions

A Marine who braved enemy fire alone to retrieve the bodies of his fallen comrades will be awarded the Medal of Honor, Marine Corps Times reports.

Dakota Meyer, who now lives in Austin, Texas, will be the first living Marine to receive the nation's highest military honor since the Vietnam War. Two living Army soldiers, Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry and Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, have received the medal in the past year.

Meyer will be recognized for his actions on September 8, 2009, in Ganjgal, a remote Afghan village near the border with Pakistan. As his unit of 13 U.S. service members came under attack by a force of 50 heavily-armed insurgents, Meyer, a corporal at the time, repeatedly ran through enemy fire to recover the bodies of fellow American troops.

Killed in Ganjgal were Marine 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Gunnery Sgts. Edwin Johnson and Aaron Kenefick and Navy Hospitalman 3rd Class James Layton, according to the Marine Corps Times. An Army soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook, later died of wounds sustained during the battle.

"Whatever award comes out of it, it's for those guys (who were killed) not for me," Meyer said in an interview with Military Times.

"I feel the furthest thing from a hero," he said. "The way I view it is I let those guys down."

President Barack Obama contacted Meyer with news of the award on Monday, according to the Marine Corps Times report. A defense official with knowledge of the award process told CNN last November that former U.S. Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway made the recommendation that Meyer received the medal just before he retired last year.

Meyer is no longer on active duty. He said he left the Corps after his four-year enlistment was completed.

 Post by:
Filed under: Marines • Medal of Honor • Military
soundoff (236 Responses)
  1. Devil Dawg

    As a Marine, I would love the opportunity to shake this Marines hand.

    On a side note:
    There should be challenge coins for all the MoH recipients. I would gladly buy him and any other service member a beer.

    Semper Fi Marine.

    USMC Sgt
    1999-2003

    July 21, 2011 at 8:33 am | Report abuse |
  2. doc

    And i am proud to serve alongside this group of men.....So that WE give you the right to say whatever you want to about us. Your Welcome

    July 21, 2011 at 9:19 am | Report abuse |
    • Greg

      Another idiotic comment from a jerk called doc here and I thought doctors were supposed to be intelligent! What happened????

      July 21, 2011 at 1:13 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Thing2

    @Pam, for you to make such an ignorant comment about the people who serve this country and provide us with our freedom, proves to the rest of us that people like you don't deserve to live amongst the men and women who fight for the United States. If you have a problem with that, then Get Out we certainly don't need someone with that kind of ignorance.

    July 21, 2011 at 9:25 am | Report abuse |
    • Greg

      Just when are you ignorant fools going to realize that this stupid war has nothing at all to do with any of our rights or freedoms nor with the security of this nation? It's all about Afghanistan's mineral resorces and the chance for the right-wing politicians to promote their political careers!!! Please!

      July 21, 2011 at 12:46 pm | Report abuse |
    • Mike

      You are a moron

      July 21, 2011 at 7:48 pm | Report abuse |
    • Mike

      Then do something about it.

      July 21, 2011 at 7:49 pm | Report abuse |
  4. gabs

    @pam- Inappropriate.

    July 21, 2011 at 9:47 am | Report abuse |
  5. pam

    Sorry, I did not mean to affend anybody. What you guys do in the field is none of my business

    July 21, 2011 at 10:20 am | Report abuse |
    • Mikey

      @Pam, just shut up and go away.

      July 21, 2011 at 10:49 am | Report abuse |
    • RUFFNUTT

      Pam, don't let any of these ignoramuses like this Mikey above get to you! These ignorant fools are the ones who need to go away. The gist of what I'm saying here is that ignorance will surely bring this country to it's knees!!

      July 21, 2011 at 1:18 pm | Report abuse |
    • Julie

      Pam,

      I suggest you read "A Long Road Home"

      You may find it educational. Then again I must consider the source. Either way, I support my husband in his CHOICE to defend our Country and give ungrateful people their chance to mutter their opinions, no matter how hurtful and ungrateful they may seem.

      July 22, 2011 at 4:29 am | Report abuse |
  6. SSgt of Marines

    Sgt Meyer, I thank you for what you did out there for your brothers on the battlefield.

    Semper Fidelis
    SSgt of Marines
    1997 – Presently Serving

    July 21, 2011 at 12:27 pm | Report abuse |
    • Gary Johndro

      I'm with you. YABBA-DABBA-DOO!!!

      July 21, 2011 at 12:41 pm | Report abuse |
  7. USMC Forever

    Good grief, I think that this Dakota Meyer is going to become more popular than Jesus Christ by reading most of the posts by these idiots here. We Americans are no better than anybody else if the truth be known. We need to stop inflating out egoes!!!!!!

    July 21, 2011 at 12:54 pm | Report abuse |
  8. Mason Rhodes

    You deserve every part of that award and you make all us Marines extremely PROUD.

    Semper Fi

    July 21, 2011 at 1:04 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Bud Tree Jr.

    Like Greg already said, enough with all this right-wing bla-bla-bla here. It makes the rest of us Americans look dumb and that irritates me to no end!!!!! Let's just end this stupid war instead like we need to!

    July 21, 2011 at 3:02 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Mikey

    @RUFFNUTT, you zip it too; then go away.

    July 21, 2011 at 3:18 pm | Report abuse |
  11. 101stRF

    This marine served with honor clearly and without question.
    He had honor in raising his right hand, to serve this country and provide for this country's safety and YOUR freedom of speech, against all enemies FOREIGN and domestic.
    He had honor in choosing to fight alongside his brothers in battle, and in choosing to put himself in harm’s way above the call of duty, in the presence of a fighting force vastly superior in number; in order to rescue and care for his team. There is no greater human sacrifice than a man who is willing to lay his life down for his fellow man.

    July 21, 2011 at 3:48 pm | Report abuse |
  12. 0351

    Semper Fi Devil!!!

    July 22, 2011 at 11:13 am | Report abuse |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
« Back to main