MILITARY: Medal decisions usually stand

Congress faces uphill battle in getting Peralta decision changed

By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer | Friday, September 19, 2008 8:12 PM PDT ∞

Upgrading a military award to a Medal of Honor has little history of success, according to a congressional report.


MILITARY: Review of Peralta decision sought


On Friday, five county U.S. representatives asked President Bush to order a review of a decision awarding the Navy Cross to a San Diego Marine who witnesses say deliberately covered a grenade with his body during a firefight in Iraq.

The Marine, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, had been nominated for the Medal of Honor by the Marine Corps.

A Congressional Research Service report prepared in March 2006 says there is a reluctance to upgrade awards to the Medal of Honor.

The reluctance is based on efforts to "maintain the integrity of the award" and to "avoid opening the floodgates to retroactive requests."

There have been isolated instances in which the president has gone around the services to bestow the honor. That happened in 1996, when President Clinton announced he was awarding the Medal of Honor to seven black soldiers for heroic actions during World War II.

The Medal of Honor was first presented in 1863. Since then, it has been awarded to U.S. troops from across the services 3,467 times, including four times since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Two-thirds of the recipients were killed in the action that led to the award.

Medal recipients are bestowed with the honor following an exhaustive review of established guidelines. Those include an incontestable deed witnessed by at least two people, which is the case in the Peralta incident.

"It must be so outstanding that it clearly distinguishes gallantry beyond the call of duty from lesser forms of bravery," the congressional report states.

The act leading to the award must involve risk of life.

The Defense Department said this week that a special panel convened by Defense Secretary Robert Gates unanimously recommended against awarding Peralta the Medal of Honor because of a medical expert's conclusion that a head wound the Marine suffered made it unlikely that he could have deliberately reached for the grenade.

The statement said "contradictory evidence" warranted establishment of the panel and noted the one instruction in determining whether the medal is warranted declares that "there must be no margin of doubt or possibility of error in awarding this honor."

The statement went on to say that the decision "in no way detracts from Sgt. Peralta's courageous and selfless sacrifice."

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.