This article by Riley Ceder originally appeared on Military Times, the nation's largest independent newsroom dedicated to covering the military and veteran community.
The Navy contracted a new Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that is set to be named after a Marine who received the Medal of Honor for saving a fellow service member’s life, Navy Secretary John Phelan announced Monday.
The destroyer Kyle Carpenter will be named after Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, who on Nov. 21, 2010, shielded another Marine from a grenade blast by throwing his body in front of the explosive. Carpenter was severely wounded as a result but managed to survive.
“In 2010, Cpl. Carpenter went above and beyond the call of duty to shield a fellow Marine from a grenade blast in Afghanistan,” Phelan wrote. “May this warship represent his valor, resilience and devotion to our Nation.”
Former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced the arrival of the destroyer Kyle Carpenter in January.
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Carpenter was serving with the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, at the time of the blast.
Along with two reinforced Marine squads, and partnered with an Afghan National Army squad, Carpenter was in a small village in the Marjah District of Afghanistan. Coalition forces were shielding the local population from enemy activity, according to Carpenter’s Medal of Honor citation.
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