Defying orders and tempting fate, Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer charged five times in a Humvee into heavy gunfire in the darkness of an Afghanistan valley to rescue comrades under attack from Taliban insurgents.Check in on Monday - I will have related thoughts; but for now - ponder.
On Thursday, Meyer was presented with the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, by President Obama.
Meyer’s courage during the six-hour ambush and firefight saved the lives of 36 people, both Americans and Afghans. He killed at least eight Taliban insurgents. Firing from a gun turret on top of the Humvee driven by a fellow Marine, he provided cover for his team, allowing many to escape likely death.
He was defying orders from his commanders, who told him to stay back. The kill zone, they said, was too dangerous. But the young corporal, just 21 at the time, knew his friends were trapped that early morning in September 2009.
“In Sgt. Dakota Meyer, we see the best of a generation that has served with distinction through a decade of war,” Obama said during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
Meyer, later promoted to sergeant and now out of the Marines, is the third living recipient and the first Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The modest, soft-spoken 23-year-old now lives in his home state of Kentucky, working construction in the tiny town of Greensburg.
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