Fight to the Finish: U.S. Marine receives Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan

MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII - Removed from an ambushed platoon of Marines and soldiers in a remote Afghan village on Sept. 8, 2009, his reality viciously shaken by an onslaught of enemy fighters, Cpl. Dakota Meyer simply reacted as he knew best — tackling what he called “extraordinary circumstances” by “doing the right thing … whatever it takes.”

Nearly two years later, the White House announced Aug. 12, 2011, the 23-year-old Marine scout sniper from Columbia, Ky., who has since left the Marine Corps, will become the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in 38 years. Retired Sgt. Maj. Allan Kellogg, Jr. received the medal in 1973 for gallantry in Vietnam three years earlier.

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Remembering Greeley: The Marine who carried his flag to Iwo Jima

BELLEVUE, Wash. - Few events in Marine Corps history are storied as the iconic flag raising on Mt. Suribachi during World War II’s Battle of Iwo Jima. The quiet event, starkly contrasting the bloody battle that claimed lives of a third of the war’s fallen Marines, later marked a deafening Allied victory and powerfully symbolized the resolve of a nation at war.

History will forever honor famed Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal for capturing the celebrated photo of the flag raising. But without the attention to detail of a young Marine lieutenant, this powerful image of American patriotism would likely not exist.

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