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🇲🇽 He was born in Mexico City. He crossed the border undocumented. And the day his green card arrived in the mail — he walked straight to a Marine Corps recruiter and enlisted.

That was Rafael Peralta. That was who he was from the very beginning.

On November 15, 2004, 25-year-old Sergeant Rafael Peralta was leading his unit through house-to-house combat during the Second Battle of Fallujah — one of the bloodiest urban battles of the Iraq War. When he opened a door, insurgents opened fire. He was shot multiple times in the head and fell to the ground.

Then a gr***de landed inches from his face.

Seven Marines who were present say the same thing: despite his wounds, Peralta reached out, pulled the gr***de beneath his body, and absorbed the blast.

He died. They lived.

🏅 The Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy both recommended him for the Medal of Honor — the nation's highest military decoration. Three different Secretaries of Defense denied it, arguing there was not "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" that he had acted consciously. His own Navy Cross citation, however, states explicitly that he pulled the gr***de to himself "without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own personal safety."

His mother refused to accept the Navy Cross for seven years. She believed — and still believes — her son deserved more.

⚓ In 2017, the U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Rafael Peralta, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer carrying his name across every ocean.

🔥 And now, in May 2026 — more than 21 years after his death — the House Armed Services Committee has included a provision in the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act to finally authorize the President to award Sgt. Rafael Peralta the Medal of Honor posthumously. The fight is not over.

A man who was not yet a citizen fought and died for this country. He became a citizen while in uniform. And to this day, Washington still debates whether his last act was heroic enough.

We don't debate it. We know what he did.

Say his name. Share his story. 🇲🇽🇺🇸

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