Congressman links Swenson, Peralta MoH cases

Congressman links Swenson, Peralta MoH cases
By Dan Lamothe
Staff writer
Army Times
Posted : Tuesday Aug 14, 2012

A congressman has called for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to give “fair and due consideration” to a controversial Medal of Honor nomination, said to be sitting on his desk, for an Army captain, linking it to a stalled high-profile case for a deceased Marine sergeant.

The case for former Army Capt. Will Swenson to receive the nation’s top combat valor award for heroism in eastern Afghanistan has been “unfairly derailed by what appears to be nothing more than bureaucratic influence and arbitrary reasoning,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter in a letter to Panetta on Monday. Hunter compared Swenson’s case to that of late Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who died in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004 while covering a grenade, but was later denied the Medal of Honor.

“Peralta’s Medal of Honor is long overdue while Swenson never received the thorough and unbiased review he deserved,” Hunter said. “There are others who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan who fit into these same categories, but a favorable decision for Peralta in particular will go a long way toward restoring credibility to a process that has failed to deliver the proper recognition for heroic acts worthy of the Medal of Honor.”
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