Houston Marine earns Navy Cross
Houston Chronicle:
Houston Chronicle:
On April 4, 2003, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Perez took charge of a battle in the Iraqi desert and won.
He raked enemy positions with rifle fire, led a charge into a trench bristling with Iraqi fighters and obliterated a machine-gun bunker with a rocket. Wounded by gunfire in the back and shoulder, he directed other Marines to shoot at the Iraqi positions.
For his heroism, the 23-year-old from Houston was awarded the Navy Cross, the Navy's second-highest medal....
...
Perez, a rifleman, was the point man for a Marine platoon assigned to clear areas near Highway 6 south of Baghdad when Iraqi fighters opened fire on the Marines with machine guns and other weapons.
Ahead of his unit, Perez drew much of the fire but didn't back down, according to the citation awarding him the medal. He attacked the Iraqi positions with rifle fire and directed other Marines to do the same. He heaved a grenade into an enemy trench and stormed it, firing his rifle at Iraqi fighters as he ran.
Under heavy fire from the Iraqis, Perez destroyed a machine-gun nest, killing four Iraqi fighters and allowing his unit to capture the position.
As his unit fought forward to join another Marine unit, Perez was wounded. Despite his wounds, he directed his unit to take cover and to fire into the Iraqi positions, helping his platoon overwhelm them.
The next day, U.S. forces rolled into Baghdad, and four days later the city fell.
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