Former President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Honor to retired Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter at the White House on June 19, 2014. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
The Navy will name its newest Arleigh Burke-class, guided-missile destroyer for the youngest living Marine to receive the Medal of Honor for bravery in combat.
The USS Kyle Carpenter will honor the Marine from South Carolina who was 21 in 2010 when he shielded a fellow Marine from a grenade on a rooftop in Afghanistan. He was severely wounded but survived to become a veterans advocate and motivational speaker.
Navy Secretary John Phelan, who holds the authority to choose ship names, made the announcement Monday that the service would follow through with former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro’s plan in January that a future destroyer would carry Carpenter’s name.
Carpenter was a lance corporal with the 2nd Battalion of the 9th Marine Regiment when he was deployed to Helmand Province on Nov. 21, 2010.
Two Marine squads and one Afghan army squad were sent to the Marjah District to reinforce a patrol base. Carpenter and Lance Cpl. Nick Eufrazio was assigned to the rooftop to monitor the perimeter for enemy forces.
The pair came under attack, and a grenade was thrown onto the roof. Carpenter jumped between the grenade and Eufrazio, taking the force of the blast on his right side, according to Marine reports. Fragments tore into Carpenter’s torso, blew out his right eye, most of his teeth and part of his jaw, and fractured bones in his face and torso. He was in a coma for five weeks.
Eufrazio suffered a traumatic brain injury to his frontal lobes but has been able to recover much of his speech and memory, according to published news reports.
For three years after the incident, Carpenter recovered at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
In 2014, he received the Medal of Honor from former President Barack Obama.
“By his undaunted courage, bold fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of almost certain death, Lance Cpl. Carpenter reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States naval service,” according to the award citation.
Carpenter co-wrote “You Are Worth It: Building a Life Worth Fighting For,” an autobiographical book published in 2019. He also has become a motivational speaker and works with veterans, highlighting his post-traumatic stress disorder to advocate for better awareness of veterans mental health.
The latest Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are armed to defend aircraft carrier strike groups and other ships with a mix of anti-ship, anti-aircraft, anti-submarine and anti-ballistic missile weapons. These include a 96-cell vertical launching system for surface-to-air missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles or anti-submarine missiles. The upgraded destroyers also have advanced radar that better guides missiles to their targets, two torpedo tubes and two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters that can be used for submarine search-and-destroy missions.
Under Navy policy, destroyers are named for Navy and Marine Corps service members who serve with heroism, valor and distinction. Names have included Medal of Honor recipients, influential top officers, and lawmakers who supported the Navy. The Navy will also continue to name destroyers after earlier ships of the type that have storied histories in the service.
