Honolulu lawmakers join fight for Peralta MoH [Archive] - Marine Corps

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01-30-09, 07:49 AM

MILITARY: Hunter presses Peralta Medal of Honor case

By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

U.S. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter is criticizing what he says appears to be a shift in the criteria for awarding the Medal of Honor, with science replacing witness reports.

In a letter sent Thursday to President Barack Obama, Hunter, R-El Cajon, raises the case of San Diego Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, whose actions in covering a grenade during house-to-house fighting in Iraq in 2004 led to his nomination by the U.S. Marine Corps for the nation's top military honor.

Peralta, who died in that battle, instead was posthumously awarded the second-highest honor, the Navy Cross.

The Medal of Honor nomination was rejected last year by a panel convened by Defense Secretary Robert Gates that concluded Peralta's sweeping a grenade to his body may not have been a deliberate act because he was dying from a gunshot wound.

"I am very concerned that the criteria for awarding the Medal of Honor, which has been historically based on eyewitness accounts, has now been replaced by modern forensic science," Hunter wrote.

"I firmly believe that eyewitness accounts of the event should take precedent through the entire chain of command review process because heroic actions in combat cannot always be explained by science alone."

Last week, Hunter and California U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and San Diego County U.S. Reps. Brian Bilbray, Darrell Issa, Bob Filner and Susan Davis also petitioned Obama to order a review of the Peralta matter.

Gates has rejected calls for a second look at the Peralta decision.

Peralta died in the Iraqi city of Fallujah on Nov. 15, 2004. An autopsy showed he had been accidentally shot in the head by a fellow Marine during the fighting.

The Gates panel concluded that Peralta's head wound was so severe that he could not have made a deliberate decision to reach for the grenade.

The Sept. 17 announcement of that decision outraged the Marines who were there and gave official statements saying they saw him reach for the grenade and that they believed he saved the lives of at least four men in doing so.

The controversy was stoked by the citation accompanying the Navy Cross in which Navy Secretary Donald Winter acknowledged Peralta's sacrifice as being intentional.

Winter wrote that Peralta "reached out and pulled the grenade to his body, absorbing the brunt of the blast and shielding fellow Marines only feet away."

Peralta's family has refused to accept the Navy Cross.

Established in 1862, the Medal of Honor is awarded to troops who distinguish themselves in combat by conspicuous gallantry that exhibits personal bravery or self-sacrifice.

Hunter, 32, was a Marine officer who served one tour in Iraq and one in Afghanistan before being elected in November to the 52nd Congressional District seat that includes Ramona and Poway.

He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee once headed by his father, Duncan L. Hunter, who represented the district for nearly three decades before giving up the seat last year.

He said Thursday that Gates should have relied on the Marines who were with Peralta.

"The decision contradicts the eyewitness accounts of those Marines that were fighting alongside Sergeant Peralta and witnessed his heroic actions," Hunter said. "These accounts should take precedence."

George Sabga, an attorney who has assisted Peralta's mother, Rosa, said she is very grateful that Hunter and other lawmakers, including members of the Hispanic Caucus from around the nation, continue to press her son's case.

"In the bottom of their hearts, Rosa and other family members feel it is right," Sabga said. "The family believes the Marines that were with Sergeant Peralta. The government trusted those Marines to fight for this country in Fallujah, and it should believe them now."

If they don't get an affirmative response from the White House, Hunter and other lawmakers have said they are considering introducing legislation to upgrade Peralta's award.

In his letter, Hunter also is raising concerns that no living veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have received the Medal of Honor.

The four recipients for actions in Iraq and the sole recipient for bravery in Afghanistan all were killed.

He pointed out that 27 percent of Medals of Honor awarded in World War I went to troops killed in battle; 57 percent in World War II; and 38 percent in the Vietnam war.

All the rest were awarded to troops who survived the action that led to them being honored.

That suggests that either knowingly or inadvertently, the medal is being awarded only if a service member dies, Hunter said.

The Defense Department, he said, should not be applying a different standard in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It's not because our military men and women are not performing actions worthy of the Medal of Honor," he said. "It is due to the fact that the review process has become overly complicated and reliant on nontraditional criteria."

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

Ellie