FORUM: Heroic Marine dishonored by Pentagon

By Raoul Lowery Contreras - Del Mar Heights resident | Sunday, September 21, 2008 12:15 AM PDT ∞

U.S. Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, 25, a Mexican citizen the day he died, was shot during a firefight inside a house during the second battle of Fallujah in Iraq. He has been awarded the second highest American medal for bravery, the Navy Cross, for what he did that day.

From Tijuana, Peralta attended San Diego schools on a student visa and applied for a "green card" while in high school. The day his "green card" arrived, he joined the Marines.

A note of interest: I wrote about Peralta before long he joined the Marines and received his Permanent Resident Card (green card). An anti-Mexican critic in Boise, Idaho, recently published an article criticizing the American government for granting "amnesty" to Peralta. She did so without any evidence that Peralta was ever an illegal alien. The Boise newspaper printed her unfounded accusation as if it were truth.

On Nov. 15, 2004, Peralta led six Marines in a house-to-house search for Iraqi insurgents in the famous Battle of Fallujah. The group took fire from a house where Peralta was shot in the face and body when he kicked in the front door.

An insurgent threw a grenade that landed on the floor next to the wounded Peralta. He grabbed the grenade and hugged it to his chest, "without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety," the Navy Cross citation says.

By hugging the exploding grenade to his chest, Peralta saved the lives of several Marines a few feet away, Marine Corps officials have told reporters.

Many thought Peralta would be awarded a Medal of Honor, the country's highest award, but after a four-year investigation, that was not to be.

Some investigators think Peralta was actually wounded in the first instance by "friendly fire" from other Marines nearby.

There is much disappointment among Marines whose lives were saved by Peralta when he smothered the exploding grenade.

Former Marine Robert Reynolds, 31, of Ritzville, Wash., credits Peralta with saving his life. He said the Pentagon's decision insults his personal honor.

He told newspapers: "I feel like the Navy Cross is a cop-out. I was five meters away. I saw what happened. I feel like they're calling me a liar."

Former Marine George Sabga, a lawyer and friend of the Peralta family, says leaders of the Marine Corps and U.S. Central Command agreed that Peralta's heroism merited the Medal of Honor.

Three other Americans (two soldiers and one sailor) have been awarded the Medal for the exact same life-saving action with enemy grenades in Iraq and Afghanistan. During WW II, many service members received the Medal of Honor for that exact, heroic act.

Department of Defense civilians downgraded the award from Medal of Honor to Navy Cross, according to Sagba.

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau said during WW I that "War is too serious to leave to generals." Taking some liberty, I'd like to change that to: "Medals of Honor are too serious to leave to Department of Defense civilians."

Raoul Lowery Contreras lives in Del Mar Heights.