Sgt. Rafael Peralta To Receive Navy Cross Posthumously

UPDATE
Peralta family will donate fallen Marine's Navy Cross to ship

The family plans to treasure the Navy Cross over the summer and donate it to the ship for its Oct. 31 christening, Peralta-Donald said.

A photo of the newly named Navy destroyer Rafael Peralta is displayed during a ceremony in San Diego. (Photo: Lance Cpl. Anna Albrecht/Marine Corps)

Family of Rafael Peralta, fallen Iraq war hero, to accept Navy Cross award after long refusal
Washington Post
Dan Lamothe
May 28, 2015

The family of one of the most celebrated Marine Corps heroes of the Iraq war will soon accept the nation’s second-highest award for valor on his behalf, nearly 11 years after he was killed in combat and almost seven years after the Pentagon made the controversial decision to deny him the Medal of Honor.

Sgt. Rafael Peralta will soon receive the Navy Cross posthumously during a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif., said his younger brother, Ricardo. Peralta’s mother, Rosa, still believes the sergeant deserves the nation’s highest award for heroism in combat, but is tired after years of appeals. She had refused to accept the Navy Cross, citing her belief he deserved the higher award.

“That decision does not mean that she was willing to settle,” Ricardo, 24, told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “It just means that she grew tired of it.”
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Will Sgt. Rafael Peralta's life finally be honored?

Denial of Medal of Honor for Sgt. Rafael Peralta causes anger to survivors

The decision is "almost like somebody called me a liar," said Marine Sgt. Nicholas Jones, 25, who was with Peralta that day. Jones, a recruiter, said Peralta's actions have become part of Marine Corps lore, as drill sergeants and officer-candidate instructors repeat it to new Marines. "His name is definitely synonymous with valor," said Jones, who was wounded by the grenade blast.

"I know for a fact that I would have been killed … and that my daughter, Sophia, our new baby, Sienna, would not be here or coming into the world. And that my son, Noah, would have grown up without knowing his dad," said Robert Reynolds, 31, a corrections officer and former Marine who was with Peralta that day.

Camp Pendleton Marines, Everything Working Against Them, Everyone For Each Other

Marines Awarded Navy Cross, Bronze Stars for Bravery in Afghanistan Battle 
NBC San Diego
By Andie Adams and Bridget Naso
Apr 9, 2015

“I asked the guys, I said, 'Look, does anyone have a problem with risking it to take these guys out there because if we don't, they're going to die here,’” said Jacklin. “And there wasn't a second of hesitation. Everyone says, ‘I'm in, let's do it, let's do it.”

Six Camp Pendleton Marines were honored Thursday for their bravery in Afghanistan: one with the Navy Cross, and the others with the Bronze Star. All part of a Marine Corps Special Operations Team, they took part in one of the most historic battles during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Gunnery Sgt. Brian Jacklin, who was the team’s second in command, described the June 2012 battle at an early morning ceremony at Camp Pendleton Thursday.

He and ten fellow Marines were helping the Army stabilize villages in the Helmand province when they were surrounded on all sides by their foes. “The enemy had the advantage in terms of geographic position, they had the advantage in terms of local fire power.

Everything was working against that team,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman at the ceremony. 
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Camp Pendleton Marine to Receive Navy Cross

Gunnery sergeant to receive Navy Cross for Afghanistan valor
The Associated Press
Published: April 8, 2015

Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Brian C. Jacklin U.S. MARINE CORPS

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The Marine Corps said Tuesday that a gunnery sergeant will receive the service's second-highest award for enduring heavy assault in Afghanistan while his team leader and another Marine were ushered to safety after being shot and seriously wounded. Brian C. Jacklin, 32, will be awarded the Navy Cross on Thursday at Camp Pendleton, becoming the eighth person in the Marine Special Operations Command to receive the honor since the unit was formed in 2006.

The Los Angeles native was second in command of a team that came under attack in the Upper Gereshk Valley of Helmand province in 2012.

After his team leader and another Marine suffered life-threatening injuries, he established communications with a nearby unit.

"Without hesitation, Jacklin seized control of the situation and orchestrated a counterattack," the Marines said. "He courageously led his team out of their compound and through open terrain in order to secure a landing zone. Jacklin remained in the open, raining M203 grenades on the enemy and directing the fires of his team, until the aircraft could land and evacuate the wounded."

Also Thursday, Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman, commander of the Marine Special Operations Command, will award the Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device to Gunnery Sgt. William C. Simpson IV,

Staff Sgt. Christopher Buckminster, Staff Sgt. Hafeez B. Hussein, Sgt. William P. Hall and Sgt. David E. Harris, all critical-skills operators. The Marine Corps said they "boldly displayed their courage and gallantry during the same engagement as Jacklin."
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No Longer Untold Story of Navy SEALs

There seems to be a lot of action for a PBS documentary on Navy SEALs. I don't like to use what some people put up especially when it appears they are not part of the original work done. I tracked back the video to PTSD and the original video.

If you want to see a fantastic documentary, you need to see this one!

Navy SEALs - Their Untold Story

“The SEALs’ history has never been truly told before. This is the first time that Naval Special Warfare has assisted with the research of a documentary about the Teams and their forefathers.” – Filmmaker Carol L. Fleisher

Navy SEALs – Their Untold Story premiered on Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11, 2014, 9:00–11:00 p.m. ET.

SEAL Team TWO L to R: Gordy Boyce, Dennis Drady, Wally Schwalenberg and Silver (dog).

Despite the widespread attention paid to the Navy SEALs (Sea, Air and Land) since they killed Osama bin Laden, the story of how these clandestine warriors evolved in response to changing threats — from WWII to the War on Terror — and how their extraordinary abilities shaped U.S. and world history, has remained untold.

Few people know the unheralded tales of the first frogmen who dared to face almost certain death with little training, scant equipment and untested tactics.

Narrated by Gary Sinise, Navy Seals – Their Untold Story recounts the ticking-clock missions of the “Commandoes of the Deep” through firsthand accounts — including that of a D-Day demolition team member — and through never-before-seen footage, home movies and personal mementoes. Admirals, master chiefs, clandestine operators, demolitioneers and snipers all reveal how U.S. Navy SEALs morphed into the SEALs.

Throughout the storied history examined in the film, the Navy SEALs accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. For this willingness to take extreme risks, many SEALs have been awarded the U.S. Armed Services’ highest honor.

The following Navy SEALs have received the Congressional Medal of Honor:

LT Thomas Norris – Vietnam
LT j.g. Joseph R. Kerrey – Vietnam
EN2 (SEAL) Michael Edwin Thornton – Vietnam
LT Michael P. Murphy – Afghanistan
MA2 (SEAL) Michael A. Monsoor – Iraq
Here is the link to PBS and you can watch the video here.

WWI Hero Closer to MOH and out of "bureaucratic no-man’s land"

World War I veteran one step from getting Medal of Honor
St. Louis Post Dispatch
By Jesse Bogan
December 15, 2014

A family photo of Sgt. William Shemin during his service in World War I.

WEBSTER GROVES • Twelve years and many phone calls since Elsie Shemin-Roth started on a mission through bureaucratic no-man’s land, her father, a deceased World War I veteran, is one step away from getting the military’s highest decoration.

Under normal circumstances, the Medal of Honor is awarded within five years of an act of heroism. A waiver of time limitations cleared the U.S. Senate Friday as part of a minuscule addition to the massive military spending bill. The vote clears the deck for a final obstacle: approval from President Barack Obama.

“I am just so pleased that we are finally going down the homestretch,” Shemin-Roth, 85, said from her home in Webster Groves.

In 1919, her father was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary heroism,” according to a citation signed by Gen. John J. Pershing. That medal is the Army’s second-highest award.

Decades later, Shemin-Roth heard about a group of Jewish-American World War II vets getting their Army Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross and the Air Force Cross citations reviewed for an upgrade due to anti-Semitism. She wanted her father and other World War I vets to have a shot at the Medal of Honor, too.

But first she’d have to get a new law passed. She succeeded with passage of the William Shemin Jewish World War I Veterans Act in 2011.

It allowed a one-year window for cases like her father’s to be resubmitted. There were strict guidelines. Eyewitnesses were needed to verify acts of valor being studied nearly a century later.
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Navy Cross Vietnam Veteran Turned Down by VA?

Vegas Navy Cross recipient shot down by VA benefits office
Las Vegas Review Journal
Keith Rogers
Posted December 6, 2014

Vietnam War veteran Steve Lowery has the scars, the medals and his Marine Corps medical records to prove he was wounded when his 12-man reconnaissance team was attacked on March 5, 1969.

“We were nearly wiped out and overcome,” said the Las Vegas resident, recounting the firefight in the darkness atop Hill 1308 that left three of his buddies dead and seven wounded including him.

One who was killed, Pfc. Robert H. Jenkins Jr., was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving Fred Ostrom’s life by shielding him from an exploding grenade. Others received Silver and Bronze Stars for their bravery.

Lowery, the team leader and a 1964 graduate of Rancho High School, was awarded the Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest valor award.

That makes him among the most highly decorated veterans from Las Vegas, but he doesn’t expect to be treated any differently than other veterans who have served their country honorably.

“I wear this on behalf of the other 11 who were with me,” he said last week about the Navy Cross, which has a citation that reads: “For extraordinary heroism … Corporal Lowery was seriously wounded in both legs by the intense enemy fire.

“Steadfastly remaining in his hazardous position, he boldly delivered accurate return fire and hurled grenades at the advancing enemy … killing several of the enemy and causing the others to retreat.”

Yet in the eyes of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the bullet from an AK-47 that ripped through his thighs and shrapnel from a “Chi-Com” — Chinese Communist — grenade that pierced his right knee were not related to his military service.

Nor was the neck injury he suffered near the end of his career when a moving van rear-ended his car when he was stopped at a light while on active duty in Hawaii.

That’s what the letter says from the VA Benefits Regional Office in Reno that rejected his claim for service-connected compensation.

“We determined that the following condition is not related to your military service,” reads the Aug. 1, 2011, letter from “A. Bittler,” veterans service center manager. “Gunshot wound to left thigh; neck condition; shrapnel, right knee; gunshot wound, right thigh.”
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Camp Pendleton Navy Corpsman To Be Awarded Navy Cross

Camp Pendleton Navy Corpsman To Be Awarded Navy Cross
KPBS News
By Beth Ford Roth
November 20, 2014

Navy Chief Petty Officer Justin Wilson

U.S. NAVY

The commanding general of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) will award Navy Chief Petty Officer Justin Wilson the Navy Cross at a Camp Pendleton ceremony on Nov. 25.

The Military Times reports Wilson, 36, works as a special amphibious reconnaissance corpsman assigned to MARSOC's 1st Marine Special Operation Battalion, which is based at Camp Pendleton.

Wilson was on his third deployment to Afghanistan, according to the Navy Cross citation, when, along with several members of Marine Special Operations Team 8113, he was injured by an explosion on Sept. 28, 2011.
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Vietnam Veteran stole valor then corrupted justice

Former Marine's 'bogus as hell' service record used in trial
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Harper
Published: July 1, 2014

WASHINGTON — Former Marine Charles Allen Chavous was facing prison for his role in a decades-old murder. His attorney portrayed him as a Vietnam War hero who deserved leniency, telling the court he was a POW who escaped captivity and was awarded numerous combat valor medals, including the prestigious Navy Cross.

When the judge handed down his sentence, Chavous, 63, walked away a free man.

But in a case of stolen valor, none of the claims turned out to be true.

The proceedings in Augusta, Ga., were first reported by The Augusta Chronicle. After Chronicle readers expressed skepticism about the alleged war record, Stars and Stripes tried to verify attorney Scott Connell’s unchallenged claims.

Stars and Stripes sent the DD-214 to Doug Sterner, a leading military records expert and the chief archivist for the Military Times Hall of Valor website. Sterner is a Vietnam veteran who has spearheaded efforts to protect the integrity of the military awards system, including the Stolen Valor Act, which would have made it a crime to falsely take credit for unearned medals. The Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional, saying it violated the right to free speech.

Sterner noted “very serious discrepancies” that suggested the DD-214 was phony, including:

Parts of Block 24 (Awards) and Block 25 (Education and Training) clearly are in a different font than the rest of the DD-214.
The word “Gallantry” is misspelled “Gallentry” in Block 25.
The “Navy Cross Medal” and the “Silver Star Medal” — as they appear in the document — are referred to simply as “Navy Cross” and “Silver Star,” without the word “Medal” appearing after them.
Block 30 (Remarks) states that Chavous served in Vietnam 30 Jan 1970-1 December 1970 and then again from 15 Jan 1971-6 July 1971. But the font listing the second tour is different from the text above it, which indicates it came from a different typewriter.
Block 30 (Remarks) states that Chavous was “(Missing in Action) November 21-24, 1970,” but the (month/day/year) date format is different from the date format used just above it, and it is not the proper (date/month/year) format used by the military. This suggests the “Missing in Action” part was added later by someone else.
In Block 5a and 6 (Rank), his rank is shown as “Sgt.” with a date of rank of Jan. 3, 1970, but the “g” in “Sgt” is in a different font than the “g” in “Augusta,” which indicates that “Sgt” was written with a different typewriter.
“That DD-214 is BOGUS AS HELL,” Sterner said in an email.
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Navy Cross for Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan W. Gifford Postumously

Marine Receives Navy Cross Posthumously
The Daily News
Jacksonville, N.C.
by Thomas Brennan
Jun 18, 2014

Extraordinary heroism, decisive actions, bold initiative and dedication to duty led one Marine to be posthumously awarded the nation's second-highest award for valor in combat. But Marine generals urged those in attendance at the award ceremony to remember Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan W. Gifford not only for how he died, but for how he lived.

Gifford's widow Lesa stood with their five children as Gen. John M. Paxton, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, presented the Navy Cross alongside 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion Commander Maj. Gen. Mark A. Clark during a ceremony on Tuesday at Marine Special Operations Command Headquarters at Stone Bay aboard Camp Lejeune.

Gifford, team chief for Hotel Company, 2nd MSOB, was conducting what was to be a routine cordon and search mission on July 29, 2012, in Bala Bokan, Afghanistan, alongside the rest of Team 8232 and Afghan commandos when they came under enemy machine gun fire. According to the award citation, Gifford crossed 800 meters of open terrain to perform first aid on wounded Afghan commandos and helped move the casualties to a landing zone for medical evacuation. Then he went back while still under gunfire to return to the fight.

"The other commandos were pinned down under heavy enemy fire, and sustained more casualties," reads the citation. "Realizing the Afghan force was in jeopardy, Gunnery Sergeant Gifford gathered extra ammunition and, accompanied by a fellow Marine, crossed the same open terrain under fire to reinforce the beleaguered Afghans ... He continued to attack until he fell mortally wounded."
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Fallen Marine from Florida Earned Navy Cross in Afghanistan

MARSOC Marine killed in Afghanistan to receive Navy Cross
Navy Times
Hope Hodge Seck
Staff Writer
Jun. 11, 2014

A MARSOC gunnery sergeant who died leading an assault on insurgents in Afghanistan in 2012 will be awarded the military’s second-highest honor next week.

The family of Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford, of 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., will receive his Navy Cross June 17 at a ceremony held at MARSOC headquarters aboard Lejeune.

Gifford, 34, of Palm Bay, Fla., had been a team chief with Special Operations Task Force West deployed to Bagdhis province, Afghanistan, at the time of the assault. During a morning patrol on July 29, 2012, he saw three of the Afghan special operations commandos he was advising hit by enemy small arms fire.

Immediately, he got behind the wheel of an all terrain vehicle, roaring across 800 meters of ground unprotected to come to the aid of the wounded commandos. With the help of another Marine, he performed first aid on the Afghan soldiers and moved them to a landing zone so a helicopter could extract them for medical care. Then, he crossed back over the same open terrain to help the other Afghan commandos in the unit, who were now under enemy fire.
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Kurt Chew-Een Lee, a Retired Marine Corps Major Hero Passed Away

Marine Corps hero who saved thousands of lives in Korea dies at 88
The Washington Post
By Bart Barnes
Posted March 15, 2014

WASHINGTON — Kurt Chew-Een Lee, a retired Marine Corps major who received the Navy Cross during the Korean War for his lone, head-on charge into hostile fire to force enemy troops to reveal their positions, an action that saved thousands of American lives, was found dead March 3 at his home in Washington. He was 88.

A niece and family spokeswoman, Lynn Yokoe, confirmed the death but did not know the cause.

The son of Chinese immigrants, Lee was said to have been one of the first officers of Asian ancestry in the Marine Corps.

As a first lieutenant and platoon leader in 1950, he earned the Navy Cross and the Silver Star, two of the military’s highest combat decorations for valor, in a 36-day period that included some of the fiercest and highest-casualty fighting of the Korean War.

In September of that year, U.S. forces had landed at Inchon in South Korea, forcing North Korean troops back north near the Chinese border. Chinese forces then crossed into Korea and joined in the fighting.

Lee, leading a machine-gun platoon in the far north of the Korean peninsula, often advanced to within hearing distance of the enemy forces, shouting to them in Mandarin Chinese to sow confusion.

He received the Navy Cross for action on the night of Nov. 2-3, when his unit was outnumbered and under heavy attack. He had instructed his men to shoot at the muzzle flashes from enemy weapons. According to the citation on the award, he “bravely moved up an enemy-held slope in a deliberate attempt to draw fire and thereby disclose hostile troop positions.”

Wounded in the knee and elbow during the firefight, Lee was evacuated to an Army field hospital, where he learned a few days later that he was about to be sent to Japan to recuperate.

With a sergeant and a commandeered jeep, but without authorization, he left the hospital and returned to combat.
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Did reporter use "race card" on Marine Rafael Peralta's story?

Fallen Marine Rafael Peralta’s family accuses reporter of playing ‘race card’
Supporters still press for Medal of Honor
Washington Times
Stephen Dinan
February 27, 2014

Ten years after a 2004 firefight in Iraq, Sgt. Rafael Peralta’s death continues to ignite controversy, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week refusing to reopen his nomination for the Medal of Honor and the Marine’s family accusing a newspaper of race-baiting in its reporting on the standoff.

Peralta’s mother, Rosa, said in a letter this week that a reporter for The Washington Post seemed intent on trying to get her to say her son was denied the Medal of Honor because he was Hispanic.

Some Marines who were on duty with Peralta on Nov. 15, 2004, the day he and his squad were clearing houses in Fallujah, were stunned that their comrades were now saying the story that Peralta scooped a grenade to himself, saving a number of Marines’ lives, was a concocted lie.

“If you’re trying to smear the legacy of a Marine who’s a hero, who saved my life, then you’re barking up the wrong … tree,” said Nicholas Jones, one of the Marines in the room when insurgents tossed the grenade toward the troops.

Peralta received the Navy Cross for his actions, but his supporters — including Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who also served as a Marine officer in Fallujah during the Iraq War — say he deserves the Medal of Honor.
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If you believe the DOD then ask yourself one question on this. Why would they have given him the Navy Cross for "falling" on a grenade or having it land near him?
Iraq veteran battles for fallen Marine to be honored

Comrades say Marine heroism tale of Iraq veteran was untrue

Sgt. Rafael Peralta will not receive Medal of Honor for saving lives

Did Sgt. Rafael Peralta's actions deserve MOH or not?

Video of Sgt. Rafael Peralta pulling grenade under his body being reviewed for Medal of Honor

Comrades say Marine heroism tale of Iraq veteran was untrue

There are accounts of Sgt. Rafael Peralta saving lives by shielding others after he had been shot. Accounts that simply say he fell on a grenade. Now there is another account saying he was just near it.

The LA Times reported that Defense Secretary Hagel refuses to reopen Medal of Honor bid for Sgt. Rafael Peralta because "does not meet the "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" standard required for the nation's highest award for combat bravery." Then there are reports of video footage showing exactly what happened.

So what really happened? Keep in mind that as Peralta is the subject of this debate, he is no longer here to tell anyone what happened or push for anything. That is something all of us need to remember.

Comrades say Marine heroism tale of Iraq veteran was untrue
Washington Post
Ernesto Londoño
February 21, 2014

After his death in 2004 in Fallujah, Sgt. Rafael Peralta became perhaps the most lionized Marine of the Iraq war. Shot in the head during an intense firefight, the story went, the infantryman scooped a grenade underneath his body seconds before it exploded, a stunning act of courage that saved the lives of his fellow Marines.

The Navy posthumously awarded Peralta the Navy Cross, the service’s second-highest decoration for valor; named a destroyer after him; and made plans to display his battered rifle in the Marine Corps museum in Quantico, Va.

The tale of heroism has become emblematic of Marine valor in wartime. But new accounts from comrades who fought alongside Peralta that day suggest it may not be true. In interviews, two former Marines who were with Peralta in the house when he was shot said the story was concocted spontaneously in the minutes after he was mortally wounded — likely because several of the men in the unit feared they might have been the ones who shot him.

“It has always bugged me,” said Davi Allen, a Marine who was wounded in the grenade blast and who said he watched it detonate near, but not underneath, Peralta. After years of sticking to the prevailing narrative, Allen, 30, said he recently decided to tell the truth. “I knew it’s not the truth. But who wants to be the one to tell a family: ‘Your son was not a hero’?”
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Sgt. Rafael Peralta will not receive Medal of Honor for saving lives

Iraq veteran battles for fallen Marine to be honored

Iraq veteran battles for fallen Marine to be honored

A young man living in Mexico, desperate to escape the violence, headed to the US for a better life. He entered illegally. He wanted to go to college. He also wanted to be a US Marine. Rafael Peralta made sure he got his Green card allowing him to do both an became a citizen.

William Berry, also served in Iraq. He ended up serving in jail because of PTSD and drunk driving arrests connected to Combat PTSD.

Peralta's life ended when he put his body over a grenade to save other Marines. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor but only received the Navy Cross for heroism. Why? Because some said it was an accident that Peralta's body landed on the grenade.

When you think about the argument, one question needs to be answered. Since when does the military award the Navy Cross for an accident?

They don't. Basically they admitted that Peralta was a hero. It is something that has been fought for by many people across the country wanting to make sure that his life is honored accordingly to his heroism.

As for Berry, he was one of the ones responsible for cleaning blood off of Peralta's rifle.

Fallen Marine's rifle returns to U.S. soil
Richmond Times-Dispatch
BY LAURA KEBEDE
January 21, 2014

Almost 10 years after a Marine's heroic death during some of the Iraq war's heaviest fighting, a Virginia Marine veteran continues to hope the death will be recognized with a Medal of Honor.

William Berry, a longtime Henrico County resident who served in the Iraq war, wrote a letter from jail that brought the fallen Marine's rifle home to be put on display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

Berry served as an armorer in Kuwait, Iraq and Japan after joining the Marines in 2003, making sure weapons were fully functioning and ready to go at a moment's notice.

Occasionally, Berry cleaned weapons of Marines who died in battle, and one in particular stood out — the rifle of Navy Cross recipient Sgt. Rafael Peralta.

Berry had known Peralta, though not well. They were in the same company and briefly served together in Fallujah, Iraq.

"We lost a lot of good people out there," Berry said.

Rafael Peralta was born in Mexico and entered the United States illegally to attend school in San Diego, in order to avoid gang violence in Tijuana. Inspired to become a U.S. Marine, he enlisted the same day he received his "Green Card" and earned his citizenship while serving in the Marine Corps.

His bedroom wall bore only three neatly-framed paper documents: The U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Rafael's Marine Corps graduation certificate. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor based upon the eye witness statement of the five Marines whose lives he saved. In a highly controversial move, the Secretary of Defense downgraded the award to the Navy Cross. Efforts continue by those whose lives he saved, as well as many other Marines, to see Rafael Peralta ultimately awarded the Medal of Honor for this action.
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Calif. lawmakers say fallen Marine deserved military’s highest honor for valor

Navy Cross Marine, Iraq Veteran Cheated by Sheriff's Office

"But, according to Montoya, the Navy Cross honors also sparked the wrath of fellow deputies who resented his celebrity. They hazed and heckled him for years. The harassment centered on his military service. There were persistent, deputy-spread rumors that he'd exaggerated his Iraqi War bravery because he's a publicity hound. In one instance, a deputy mocked him by placing a giant dildo and lube jar on his work gear before a shift. Instead of siding with him, department officials often backed his tormenters through inaction, and then unfairly terminated him from his dream job, Montoya claims in a pending federal lawsuit."
(Sergeant Scott Montoya's Strange Fall, OC Weekly, R. Scott Moxley, July 25, 2013)

That is the story behind all of this.

Marine Hero Deputy Cheated By Orange County Sheriff's Department Wants $2 Million
Orange County Weekly
By R. Scott Moxley
Jan. 17 2014

A deputy wrongly fired from his $99,000 per year post after enduring an anti-military bias inside the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) is asking a federal judge to award him $1.964 million for income he would have gained if he'd been allowed to finish his career and retire at the department.

Late last year, a federal jury concluded that OCSD illegally harassed and discriminated against Scott Montoya after the deputy returned from combat duty as a U.S. Marine in Iraq and earned the prestigious Navy Cross for his life-saving heroics while under enemy fire.

Rejecting OCSD arguments that Montoya was fired for being an unethical moron and that even if the jury found in the terminated deputy's favor on the hostile work environment issues they couldn't award him any money, jurors nonetheless handed the war hero more than $206,000 for prior, lost wages and another $41,800 for improperly confiscated vacation pay.

U.S. District Court Judge Jesus G. Bernal decided it's his lone right to determine if Montoya--now unemployable because of post traumatic stress disorder--is also entitled to "front pay," or money he would have earned if he'd remained a deputy until the age of 63.
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Another officer in Florida

Judge refuses to give Matthew Ladd back his job

Two Camp Pendleton Marines Posthumously Awarded Navy Cross

Camp Pendleton Special Ops Marines To Posthumously Receive Navy Cross
KPBS
By Beth Ford Roth
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Two fallen Camp Pendleton Marines

Staff Sgt. Sky Mote, 27

"In his final act of bravery, he boldly remained in the open and engaged the shooter, now less than five meters in front of him. He courageously pressed the assault on the enemy until he received further wounds and fell mortally wounded."

Capt. Matthew Manoukian, 29

Each be posthumously awarded the Navy Cross at a base ceremony on Saturday.

"Outgunned, Manoukian continued to engage the enemy until he fell mortally wounded to the shooter's overwhelming fire."

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Marine will get Navy Cross for risking life with grenade toss

Marine scout sniper who tossed live grenade from compound to get Navy Cross
Marine Corps Times
By Dan Lamothe
Staff writer
October 23, 2013

A Marine scout sniper who tossed a live grenade from an Afghan compound before it exploded will receive the Navy Cross next week for his heroism, Marine officials said.

Sgt. Joshua Moore, shown training in California in March, will receive the Navy Cross
during a Nov. 1 ceremony at Camp Lejeune, N.C. (Marine Corps)

Sgt. Joshua Moore will receive the award — second only to the Medal of Honor in recognizing combat valor — during a Nov. 1 ceremony at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He is credited with a series of heroic actions on March 14, 2011, while deployed near Marjah, a former Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, where Marines encountered fierce combat in 2010 and 2011.

According to his Navy Cross citation, Moore was a lance corporal when his scout sniper element came under fire while occupying a compound north of Marjah. Two Marines were quickly wounded, and an insurgent tossed two grenades over a wall into the structure.

“Without hesitation, Lance Corporal Moore threw the closest grenade out of the compound before it exploded,” his citation says. “Realizing seconds later that the second grenade was not going to explode he charged out of the compound to aid the wounded. Though instantly taken under fire by an enemy force one hundred meters away, Lance Corporal Moore audaciously stood his ground, returning fire with his M4 rifle and M203 grenade launcher.”
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Formerly homeless vet finds a place in a widow's heart and home

Ken Reusser obituary in the LA Times brings a lot more meaning to this already wonderful story about his widow Trudy.

He received 59 medals during his career, and his 253 combat missions are considered the most ever by a Marine pilot.
After his retirement, he worked for Lockheed Aircraft, where he helped develop the U-2 spy plane, and then the Piasecki Helicopter Co. Retiring to his native Oregon, he was active in veterans groups.
He and his wife, Trudy, made headlines in 2004 when they defiantly refused to leave their home after it went into foreclosure. The couple had lost much of their retirement savings in a high-risk investment and then a swindle by a bookkeeper. Ultimately they were forced to obey a court order.

Now that you know the backstory on this, read what Trudy Reusser did.

Formerly homeless vet finds a place in a widow's heart and home
Published: Tuesday, December 25, 2012
By Mike Francis
The Oregonian

If there's one thing on which everyone -- activists, columnists, elected officials, cabinet secretaries, even the president of the United States -- seems to agree, it's that Americans should support military veterans.

Bind their wounds. Give them jobs. Provide them counseling. Welcome them home. Easy to say, harder to do.

This is the story of one welcoming. It involves a 73-year-old Milwaukie widow and her housemate, a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran.

She was married for almost 35 years to a legendary military aviator, living in a place she and her husband built before he died three years ago.

And he is her helper, sleeping in a warm bed in her spare bedroom, out of the cold and the rain since she invited him in.

If Trudy Reusser and Norm Gotovac seem an unlikely pair, that's because you don't know Reusser.

"She is a wonderful lady," says her friend, Kay Saddler of Hemlock, Ore. "She would give the shirt off her back and the shoes and socks off her feet if it would help a veteran."

Reusser. Why is that name familiar?

Military history buffs will know instantly: Ken Reusser is the most decorated Marine pilot in history. He displayed extraordinary bravery in combat not once, but repeatedly, across decades. He is, it is believed, the only pilot to have survived being downed in World War II, the Korean War and in Vietnam. He was awarded the Navy Cross twice, the Legion of Merit with V twice, the Distinguished Flying Cross five times, four Purple Hearts and numerous other commendations.
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Vietnam Veteran, Senator Jim Webb, no plans to rest

No Rest for Jim Webb
Dec 27, 2012
The Virginian-Pilot
by Bill Bartel

Webb's most praised Senate achievement was a new GI Bill that passed Congress 18 months after he took office. The legislation dramatically improved education and related benefits for veterans. To date, more than 800,000 former service members have used the benefits.

Jim Webb may be walking away after a single term in the U.S. Senate, but that doesn't mean he's exiting public life for good.

And the 66-year-old is not going into retirement.

"I will be working. Trust me," he said in a recent interview in the wood-paneled conference room of his Capitol Hill office.

"My situation is different than most people up here. I didn't come out of a law firm. There isn't a structure that I can easily go back into. But it's a very healthy thing, at least from the way my career has played itself out, to step out every now and then and just think about things."

The victory was the latest chapter in a career that began in 1969 in the Marines. As a lieutenant, Webb served in Vietnam, earning the Navy Cross, a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.

He worked on the staff of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs after law school, and he served during the Reagan administration as an undersecretary of defense and Secretary of the Navy.

His books, both fiction and nonfiction, include the critically acclaimed novel "Fields of Fire," which is based on his wartime experiences. He's also won an Emmy as a documentary filmmaker.
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Born Fighting
Sense of Honor
A Country Such As This
Lost Soldiers
Emperor's General

Sgt. Rafael Peralta will not receive Medal of Honor for saving lives

The video shows him dropping on the grenade. The medical examiner said he was already dead before it happened. Well, if the examiner is right then this was one miraculous event and he just fell in the right place at the right time. I really doubt it happened that way.

Marine who died in Iraq won't get Medal of Honor
Seattle PI
December 12, 2012

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The secretary of defense has denied a request to upgrade a fallen Marine's Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor, a San Diego congressman's office said Wednesday.

The Pentagon told Rep. Duncan Hunter it supports the decision of former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who honored Sgt. Rafael Peralta with the Navy Cross instead of the military's highest honor.
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Will Sgt. Rafael Peraltas life finally honored?