I just watched President Obama award the Medal of Honor to former Sargeant Dakota Meyer for his heroic efforts in the "infamous Battle of Ganjgal, Afghanistan, in a moving and solemn ceremony that also remembered those lost in that battle. While a Corporal, Meyer braved enemy fire five times to rescue 36 fellow soldiers, and retrieve the bodies, of that had died.
You might wish to watch it on their live streaming video. Regardless of our feelings about the wars, we all can honor our brave troops as they risk, and give their lives on our behalf. The Marine Corps Times reports, Dakota Meyer LiveStream
President Obama will bestow the Medal of Honor to a former Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer today at 2:30 p.m. ET. We will be live streaming video of the event as soon as it beings.
Meyer is being honored for his actions in the infamous Battle of Ganjgal, a six-hour ambush and firefight on Sept. 8, 2009, in Kunar province, Afghanistan.
A much more detailed acount of Meyer's heroic rescue can be found here, elsewhere on the Marine Corps site
Also, ABC News reports this story here here.
I'll post the White House video as soon as it is up.
Thank you Dakota Meyer and all of our brave servicemen and women for your service.
President Obama and Former Sargeant Dakota Meyer having a beer. Photo by official White House photographer Pete Souza
12:23 PM PT: From an article on the Marine Corps site last week.
GREENSBURG, Ky. —
He’ll be honored for his actions in the infamous Battle of Ganjgal, a six-hour ambush and firefight that killed some of his best friends on Sept. 8, 2009, in Kunar province, Afghanistan.
Meyer, a sergeant in the Individual Ready Reserve, will become the first living Marine recipient of the nation’s highest valor award for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan when he receives the medal Sept. 15. No living Marine has received the medal since 1973.
The announcement has freed Meyer to talk — reluctantly — on the record about the battle. He braved enemy fire multiple times while making four trips into the kilometer-long Ganjgal Valley. The military credits him with fighting his way in a Humvee from a rear security position into the valley, where fellow members of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8 were pinned down under fire and pleading unsuccessfully with officers at a rear base for fire support.
Each time, Meyer evacuated coalition troops from the kill zone. That meant leaving the vehicle in the face of a hail of gunfire, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades. He killed at least eight insurgents, and pulled 12 Afghan soldiers from the kill zone into his vehicle during the first three trips — all before braving enemy fire one last time to find missing Marines and a corpsman. To his horror, he found them shot to death in a trench on a hillside terrace.
“I never once in the whole time thought they were all dead,” Meyer said here in his hometown. “I don’t know if that’s just me lying to myself, or just disbelief, or what it is. But, I never thought they’d all be dead. I thought somebody would be alive, you know?”
12:42 PM PT:
Michael A. Memoli and Michael Muskal reports this afternoon's ceremoney here President Obama joking that Meyer would only take the President's call during lunch, because otherwise he wouldn't be paid.
On Thursday, they shared a beer. On Friday, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Dakota Meyer, credited with saving three dozen of his fellow Marines during operations in Afghanistan in 2009. … Speaking from the East Room of the White House, Obama said that it was "fitting" that the solelmn ceremony came just after the nation marked the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that led to the war in Afghanistan.
Meyer, Obama said, represents "the best of a generation that has served with distinction through a decade of war." "You did your duty above and beyond, and you kept the faith with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps you love," Obama said.
He also called him "one of the most down to earth guys that you will ever meet." When White House staff attempted to reach Meyer to arrange for the president to inform him of the honor, they were told they needed to wait for his lunch break.
"I do appreciate, Dakota, you taking my call," Obama joked.
This week, in a call to arrange final details of today's service, Meyer asked if he could share a beer with his commander in chief. They did so outside the Oval Office on Thursday.
1:19 PM PT: The video embed is just of the sound, and the quality is poor. As soon as the full White House video is available I'll put it up.