Marine Praised By Bush Won't Get Medal of Honor
You can't make this stuff up:
The story goes on to talk about why Sgt. Peralta was -by Marine Corps standards- not qualified. It's a shame that Bush can't just give Sgt. Peralta something anyway, afterall he's rewarded others who have done less.
SAN DIEGO - A Marine sergeant singled out by President Bush for throwing his body on a grenade to save his comrades in Iraq will receive the prestigious Navy Cross rather than the nation's highest military award, military officials said.
The family of Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who was posthumously nominated for the nation's highest military honor, told the North County Times of Escondido, Calif., they were disappointed he was not receiving the Medal of Honor.
"I don't understand why if the president has been talking about him," his mother, Rosa Peralta, told the newspaper, which was the first to report the bestowing of the Navy Cross.
Rosa Peralta said she was informed during a meeting with Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Richard Natonski that a committee could not agree on awarding the Medal of Honor to her son, who Marine Corps officials say was first wounded by friendly fire. She said the general mentioned the friendly fire aspect as part of her son's death during the discussion.
Marine Corps spokesman Mike Alvarez confirmed the meeting, saying only that it was a personal briefing between Natonski and Rosa Peralta to inform her that the secretary of the Navy would award the Navy Cross posthumously for extraordinary heroism.
The story goes on to talk about why Sgt. Peralta was -by Marine Corps standards- not qualified. It's a shame that Bush can't just give Sgt. Peralta something anyway, afterall he's rewarded others who have done less.
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