...At the fourth house they encountered that morning the Marines kicked in the door and "cleared" the front rooms, but then noticed a locked door off to the side that required inspection. Sgt. Rafael Peralta threw open the closed door, but behind it were three terrorists with AK-47s. Peralta was hit in the head and chest with multiple shots at close range.Imagine what it must be like to be those Marines who were saved by Rafael Peralta. Every Christian knows that salvation was purchased with Christ's blood, but that fact can feel abstract in the quotidian reality in which we dwell. Those men know that every moment they live was directly purchased by a man who sacrificed his earthly life for them.Peralta's fellow Marines had to step over his body to continue the shootout with the terrorists. As the firefight raged on, a "yellow, foreign-made, oval-shaped grenade," as Lance Corporal Travis Kaemmerer described it, rolled into the room where they were all standing and came to a stop near Peralta's body.
But Sgt. Rafael Peralta wasn't dead — yet. This young immigrant of 25 years, who enlisted in the Marines when he received his green card, who volunteered for the front line duty in Fallujah, had one last act of heroism in him.
...In his parent's home, on his bedroom walls hung only three items - a copy of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and his boot camp graduation certificate. Before he set out for Fallujah, he wrote to his 14-year old brother, "be proud of me, bro...and be proud of being an American."
Not only can Rafael's family be proud of him, but his fellow Marines are alive because of him. As Sgt. Rafael Peralta lay near death on the floor of a Fallujah terrorist hideout, he spotted the yellow grenade that had rolled next to his near-lifeless body. Once detonated, it would take out the rest of Peralta's squad. To save his fellow Marines, Peralta reached out, grabbed the grenade, and tucked it under his abdomen where it exploded.
Many actions are Christ-like, such as feeding the poor or comforting the sick. To will your own death on behalf of others is to make yourself an alter Christus, another Christ, just as St. Paul wrote. As the article says, Sgt. Peralta may well receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. I pray that he is enjoying the greater honor of seeing the Holy One face to face.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
first emotion -sadness for this brave soldier.
Second emotion - compassion for his family.
third emotion - pride for his actions and the actions of all of our troups.
fourth emotion - anger - intense anger towards those who continue to disgrace our country by seeking out the bad or "grey" actions of our soldiers.
All of you are heros and may be martyrs. God bless you all.
Saint Sgt. Rafael Peralta - pray for us.
I share all of those emotions, Cathy. His example also highlights the difference beween men like him and the murderous thugs who are beheading and bombing innocent civilians.
Also, I'd bet a hundred bucks that his little brother becomes a Marine when he turns 18.
May God grant this fine man eternal joy.
This should be national news.
Thank you for posting the story, I'm bookmarking it for my children to read.
Semper fi, Rafael.
Medal of Honor, definitely. I echo the sentiments already posted. God bless men like this - alas that this didn't make headlines.