Marine Receives Medal of Honor at White House

Dakota Meyer stood at attention as President Barack Obama draped the Medal of Honor around the former Marine corporal's neck Thursday.

With that gesture, Meyer became the first Marine still living to receive the military's highest honor for action in Afghanistan or Iraq and since the Vietnam war.

Meyer, 23, now a sergeant in the Marine Corps Inactive Ready Reserve, was a turret gunner and driver in Kunar province, Afghanistan, two years ago when his unit was attacked, the Los Angeles Times reported.

According to military accounts, Meyer charged through enemy fire multiple times to save 13 Marines and Army soldiers and 23 Afghan troops. He also retrieved the bodies of four friends, the Times reported.

Obama recounted during the White House ceremony that when he called Meyer, he was at his construction job, and said he could not take the call or he would not get paid. The president said the White House arranged for the call during Meyer's lunch break.

Meyer asked to have a beer with the president, so on Wednesday, they talked on the White House Rose Garden patio, Fox News reported. The network reports Meyer defied orders to stay back when he went looking for members of his unit, finding the four dead.

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