I heard this story on the radio on a weekly segment called "Warrior of the Week" and thought it was incredible! It's stories like these that make the Marines the most feared fighting force in the world. And I had to search through a list of Medal of Honor recipients to find it, so rather than linking, I just pasted his story below:

Chontosh, Brian R.

First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps

Weapons Company, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division

Date of Action: March 25, 2003

Citation:

For extraordinary heroism as Combined Anti-Armor Platoon Commander, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM on 25 March 2003. While leading his platoon north on Highway I toward Ad Diwaniyah, First Lieutenant Chontosh's platoon moved into a coordinated ambush of mortars, rocket propelled grenades, and automatic weapons fire. With coalition tanks blocking the road ahead, he realized his platoon was caught in a kill zone. He had his driver move the vehicle through a breach along his flank, where he was immediately taken under fire from an entrenched machine gun. Without hesitation, First Lieutenant Chontosh ordered the driver to advance directly at the enemy position enabling his .50 caliber machine gunner to silence the enemy. He then directed his driver into the enemy trench, where he exited his vehicle and began to clear the trench with an M16A2 service rifle and 9 millimeter pistol. His ammunition depleted, First Lieutenant Chontosh, with complete disregard for his safety, twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his ferocious attack. When a Marine following him found an enemy rocket propelled grenade launcher, First Lieutenant Chontosh used it to destroy yet another group of enemy soldiers. When his audacious attack ended, he had cleared over 200 meters of the enemy trench, killing more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounding several others. By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, First Lieutenant Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Home Town: Rochester, NY

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"Bust a nut!" - Dimebag
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Einstein

Wow, I wouldn't want to step on his toes any time soon.

I could imagine him being one of them people who sits there at his PC, hear's a bird tweeting outside, twitches, then pulls out a sawn off and shoots the bird without even looking.

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Ooo-Rah!

Semper Fi, Do or Die....

You know what USMC stands for: Uncle Sam's Misguided Children

And there's not a serviceman in the world (myself included) who doesn't hold the Marines in total respect and awe! Although you can't see it, I am saluting him right now.

From a former USAF NCO.

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"All I can do is be me ... whoever that is". Bob Dylan

thats so amazing.

something you'd see on GI-Joe.

*in awe*

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JK

-Agile Guitars Enthusiast

Nice work...

Almost sounds like he was playing a video game. It's good to hear positive stuff about the armed forces...

Like Akira said, you wouldn't want to upset that guy - much respect for being a double hard b*****d....

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"It’s taken me all my life to learn what not to play...” - Dizzy Gillespie

I may have implied that he received the Medal of Honor in that I got his story from a list of such. Not to take anything away but just to be factual, he received the Navy Cross, which is the 2nd highest honor.

I've since discovered there's actually been only 1 Medal of Honor awarded since 2001...Sgt. Smith's story here.

And they're considering awarding it to Sgt. Peralta.

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"Bust a nut!" - Dimebag
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Einstein

Yeah, I've read the story about Sgt. Smith before... that's definitely some guts and some smarts. I hadn't read the story of Sgt. Peralta before but that is definitely inspiring... true soldiers, who gave their own lives to protect the people they were serving with.

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