(Image source: Navy Times)
BY STEVEN SPARKMAN
You're watching multisource US video news analysis from Newsy.
The nation awarded the Medal of Honor to Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer Thursday. Fox News covered the ceremony.
MIKE TOBIN: “For courage under fire in Afghanistan, the nation’s highest military honor was hung around the neck of Sgt. Dakota Meyer.”
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Because of your honor, 36 men are alive today. Because of your courage, four fallen American heroes came home, and in the words of (Navy Corpsman 3rd Class) James Layton’s mom, they could lay their sons to rest with dignity.”
Meyer is the third serviceman and the first Marine to be awarded the Medal for actions in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. CNN has the details of his amazing story.
“Meyer was a 21-year-old Marine helping train Afghan soldiers in Kunar province when their patrol was ambushed two years ago this month. He defied his commanders by jumping into a Humvee along with a comrade and rushing into enemy fire where he killed several insurgents and saved the lives of three dozen of U.S. and Afghan troops. He also found and recovered the bodies of three of his fellow Marines and a Navy corpsmen -- men he considers his brothers.”
Meyer’s heroic acts took place over six hours. He rushed into the fray five times, manning the Humvee’s turret and exposing himself to enemy fire. Despite his bravery, he calls himself a failure because he wasn’t able to bring everyone back alive.
But the failures might have been higher up the command chain. A McClatchy reporter was in the ambush. In his 2009 report, he hints at how the battle could have gone differently.
“U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines -- despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.”
Meyer heard the calls for artillery support go unanswered. Four times he asked to go in and help, but was ordered to stay back. He explains the call that made him spring into action against orders.
DAKOTA MEYER: “They told him (Lt. Michael Johnson) that his fire was denied, that he was too close to the village. And then he said, ‘If you don’t give me the rounds, I’m gonna die.’
And they said ‘Try your best,’ and that’s whenever I knew it was time for me to go in. That was the last transmission I heard from him.” (Video source: Department of Defense)
Meyer is the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor since Vietnam.
Transcript by Newsy.
