Marine's uncommon valor in Afghanistan garners Medal of Honor

Cpl. Dakota Meyer fought to save his friends on "worst day" of his life

Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer serving in Afghanistan.
Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer serving in Afghanistan. — The Associated Press

Cpl. Dakota Meyer was the youngest on the team assigned to mentor Afghan security forces. Until that day, the 21-year-old Marine’s worst firefight had been in the video game Call of Duty.

But Meyer was known for his single-minded determination, even before he joined the Corps. When men he considered to be his brothers, Americans and Afghans, were trapped under heavy fire in Ganjgal, a village in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, Meyer felt he had no choice.

His deeds on Sept. 8, 2009, during that six-hour battle made the Commandant of the Marine Corps misty eyed. Others said Meyer ranks alongside the greatest Marines in history, including Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone.

For his actions, Meyer will be awarded the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House on Sept. 15, making him the first living Marine to receive the distinction since 1973 and the Vietnam War.

Since the first was awarded in 1863 to an Army private who served in the Civil War, 3,457 people have earned our nation’s highest honor for valor in combat, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Only 84 of them are alive today.

The Afghan troops and their Marine advisers had arrived before dawn to sip tea and negotiate with the village elders, while U.S. Army soldiers secured the ridge. Instead, they walked into an ambush.

Old men, women and children scurried from their homes. The lights blinked off. Then Taliban fighters who had bunkered overnight for them in rock terraces and tiered stone houses flanking the road unleashed a barrage of fire power plunging into the valley.

Four men from the Marine advisory team in the lead were pinned down, with no air support or artillery immediately forthcoming.

“If [you] don’t give me this air support, we are going to die out here!” Marine 1st Lt. Michael Johnson yelled into the radio.

“They’re all around us!” said Marine Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, in one of the last reports heard from the advisers.

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Embedded Training Team 2-8 was a pickup crew pulled from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force headquartered in Okinawa, Japan. Meyer, a scout sniper who previously served in Iraq, came from Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The team quickly grew close serving in Kunar Province, as men at war often do.

Meyer was on the outskirts in his Humvee gun truck that day in Ganjgal. He asked for permission to move into the battle. His request was denied, four times. Finally, he went anyway, braving a hell-storm of bullets to find his friends.

Meyer manned the gun and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez drove.

Meyer knew they might not return. “Well, I guess we’ll die with them,” he said, encouraging Rodriguez-Chavez to drive on.

As they punched into the fusillade, their vehicle drew enemy firepower like a lightning rod. Mortars crunched beside them. Bullets ricocheted off their truck and chipped stones, while rocket-propelled grenades exploded in the air.

As they ventured into the ravine, Meyer repeatedly hopped off the truck to drag wounded Afghan soldiers inside. He fired his machine guns and grenade launcher until they jammed or ran out of ammunition, pushing back the enemy so American and Afghan troops could escape the ravine. Young jihadist fighters with long beards swarmed the vehicle, close enough to touch, before Meyer shot them dead.


