Profiles of Valor: Sgt Dakota Meyer (USMC)

But it was two years later, in September 2009, after deploying to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom with Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar Province, that then-Cpl Meyer would exhibit the courage and brotherhood that lead to actions on behalf of others at great peril to one’s own life.
After being advised that four members of his squad, three Marines and a Navy Corpsman, were missing after an ambush, Dakota entered the area where they were last known to be to search for them. Under enemy fire, he located his four brothers. 1stLt Michael Johnson, SSgt Aaron Kenefick, GySgt Wayne Johnson, and Navy HM3 James Layton were all deceased and stripped of their weapons, coms gear, and body armor. As he approached them, Dakota did not see a Taliban insurgent, who jumped Meyer. They wrestled to the ground and toiled until Dakota beat him to death with a rock.
With the help of allied Afghan soldiers, he then moved the four bodies of his friends to a location where they could be extracted — leave no man behind. (A fifth man he evacuated, Army SFC Kenneth Westbrook, would later die from his wounds.)
This week, Dakota reenlisted into the Marine Corps Reserve, joining three Army Medal of Honor recipients currently serving: SGM Thomas Payne, SGM Matthew Williams, and LTC William Swenson.