Man of honor
A Marine's bravery earns him the Navy's second-highest medal.
By Denny Boyles / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Thursday, May 4, 2006, 9:48 AM)

Fresno resident Jarrett Kraft, who will receive the military's second-highest award for valor in a ceremony next week, said Wednesday that he doesn't feel like a hero.

"I did what Marines have been doing for several hundred years," Kraft said. "I just tried to take care of my fellow Marines."

Kraft, 22, will be awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart for his service with the Marine Corps in Fallujah, Iraq.

The Navy Cross is second only to the Medal of Honor and is awarded to Marines or sailors who have distinguished themselves with extraordinary heroism in combat, usually by risking their lives to save others.

Kraft was originally nominated for the Medal of Honor but asked the Marine Corps to withdraw that nomination.

"I lost Marines that day," Kraft said. "I didn't feel I deserved that medal."

Those who have read the citation for Kraft's Navy Cross award disagree.

"It's an amazing story," said 1st Sgt. Kent Johnson, who is assigned to the Marine Corps Reserve Training Center in Fresno. Johnson, who is helping organize Kraft's Navy Cross award ceremony, said Kraft showed amazing devotion to his fellow Marines while under attack.

"He put his life on the line many times that day," Johnson said. "They teach you to care for your fellow Marines, and he showed that he did."

Marine Corps records show that at 9:15 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2004, Sgt. Kraft was leading a group of Marines attempting to clear insurgents from densely packed homes on a residential street. Kraft was standing outside a house talking on a radio to Marine commanders when he heard gunfire coming from inside.

Kraft ran inside the house and up a staircase, where he found a nightmarish scene: Six of his Marines were pinned against a wall, firing their weapons through a doorway where more than 40 insurgents carrying grenades and AK-47 assault rifles had waited in ambush. More insurgents then appeared on rooftops of neighboring houses, spraying a deadly crossover of bullets at the small Marine force in the house and at other Marines outside.

"There was heavy machine-gun fire coming through that door, and grenades flying both ways," Kraft said. "Then a grenade went off. I don't know if it was thrown from inside, or one of ours that they threw back at us, but when it exploded it killed one of my Marines and threw me backwards down a staircase."

The grenade had also peppered Kraft's body with shrapnel, something he wouldn't realize until the firefight ended several hours later.

Briefly knocked out by the blast, Kraft regained consciousness when another Marine fell on him. Kraft and the other Marine then crawled down the stairs. Once outside, Kraft spotted two of his men who were seriously injured and unable to reach safety.

Moving through constant machine-gun fire, Kraft helped the two men reach a nearby truck, then returned to the house to resume efforts to retrieve the bodies of the Marines killed during the gunfight.

"The Marines have a code that we don't leave anyone behind, even if they are dead," Kraft said. "The insurgents are suicidal, many of them are on drugs, and they will do anything possible to not only kill a Marine, but to take his body and drag it around."

When a first attempt to enter the house failed, Kraft returned a second and then a third time, all while facing continuous gunfire, with Marines being injured or killed all around him.

When the gunfight ended, Kraft and his men had retrieved three fallen Marines, killed 28 insurgents and wounded many others. He had also personally saved the lives of several other Marines wounded during the firefight.

Kraft was discharged from the Marines in July 2005 and applied to the Fresno City College Police Academy, where he will begin training for his next career in June. He also was hired as a cadet by the Fresno Police Department but had not told anyone at the department that he was nominated for the Navy Cross.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said that once he learned what Kraft had done, he wasn't surprised Kraft had kept quiet about it.

"We have other officers who were decorated by the military and they usually don't talk about it," Dyer said. "They are just like Jarrett in that sense, they don't make a big deal out of it.

"He has seen, in 90 minutes, what other people will never see in a lifetime. I'm humbled to know he is employed with our department."
The reporter can be reached at dboyles@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6659.

Ellie