WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- President Obama will award the nation's highest combat honor to Marine Corps veteran William Kyle Carpenter, who fell on a grenade to save the life of a friend in Afghanistan in 2010.
Carpenter, 24, a medically retired corporal, was serving in the Marjah district of Afghanistan's Helmand province, and intentionally covered a thrown grenade to save the life of his friend, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Eufrazio. Although no one knows for sure what happened in the moments following the blast, an investigation into the incident illuminated Carpenter's heroic act.