Sgt. Rafael Peralta To Receive Navy Cross Posthumously

UPDATE
Peralta family will donate fallen Marine's Navy Cross to ship

The family plans to treasure the Navy Cross over the summer and donate it to the ship for its Oct. 31 christening, Peralta-Donald said.

A photo of the newly named Navy destroyer Rafael Peralta is displayed during a ceremony in San Diego. (Photo: Lance Cpl. Anna Albrecht/Marine Corps)

Family of Rafael Peralta, fallen Iraq war hero, to accept Navy Cross award after long refusal
Washington Post
Dan Lamothe
May 28, 2015

The family of one of the most celebrated Marine Corps heroes of the Iraq war will soon accept the nation’s second-highest award for valor on his behalf, nearly 11 years after he was killed in combat and almost seven years after the Pentagon made the controversial decision to deny him the Medal of Honor.

Sgt. Rafael Peralta will soon receive the Navy Cross posthumously during a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif., said his younger brother, Ricardo. Peralta’s mother, Rosa, still believes the sergeant deserves the nation’s highest award for heroism in combat, but is tired after years of appeals. She had refused to accept the Navy Cross, citing her belief he deserved the higher award.

“That decision does not mean that she was willing to settle,” Ricardo, 24, told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “It just means that she grew tired of it.”
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Will Sgt. Rafael Peralta's life finally be honored?

Denial of Medal of Honor for Sgt. Rafael Peralta causes anger to survivors

The decision is "almost like somebody called me a liar," said Marine Sgt. Nicholas Jones, 25, who was with Peralta that day. Jones, a recruiter, said Peralta's actions have become part of Marine Corps lore, as drill sergeants and officer-candidate instructors repeat it to new Marines. "His name is definitely synonymous with valor," said Jones, who was wounded by the grenade blast.

"I know for a fact that I would have been killed … and that my daughter, Sophia, our new baby, Sienna, would not be here or coming into the world. And that my son, Noah, would have grown up without knowing his dad," said Robert Reynolds, 31, a corrections officer and former Marine who was with Peralta that day.