He has false teeth, a prosthetic jaw and the most inspiring smile in the world.
A fearless soldier nearly given up for dead in Afghanistan after bearing the brunt of a grenade blast to protect a fellow Marine received the Medal of Honor Thursday in a moving White House ceremony.
Retired Cpl. William “Kyle” Carpenter, 24, was on a roof guarding a patrol base in a small village in Afghanistan on Nov. 21, 2010 when Taliban insurgents lobbed three grenades from across the street.
One injured an Afghan National Army soldier. The second did not detonate. The third landed close to Carpenter and another Marine, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Eufrazio, who was with Carpenter on patrol.
Carpenter, who had been in Afghanistan for just five months, placed himself between the grenade and Eufrazio to shield his partner and best friend.
The blast left Eufrazio with a head injury from the shrapnel. Carpenter was nearly killed, actually flatlining at least twice during the early days of his recovery.
He sustained a depressed skull, a collapsed right lung, multiple facial fractures, the loss of a third of his lower jaw and fragment injuries to his arms and legs.
Carpenter was immediately evacuated, and required brain surgery. He lost his right eye.
“This man, this United States Marine, faced down that terrible explosive power, that unforgiving force with his own body, willingly and deliberately, to protect a fellow Marine,” President Obama said before draping the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for valor, around Carpenter’s bruised neck.
“You notice that Kyle doesn’t hide his scars. He’s proud of them and the service they represent.”
Carpenter’s dress uniform was already crowded with medals he has received for his service, including a Purple Heart, a Combat Action Ribbon, a National Defense Service Medal and a Rifle Sharpshooter Badge.
Carpenter is the eighth living veteran of U.S. combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to receive the Medal of Honor.
Carpenter, a Mississippi native who is now a full-time student at the University of South Carolina, endured more than 40 operations over two and a half years after literally suffering injuries from head to toe, inspiring doctors, nurses and lawmakers along the way.
“Kyle is a shining example of what our nation needs to encourage,” Obama said. “We can all learn from Kyle’s example.”
Carpenter was medically retired last year because of his injuries.
But that hasn’t stopped him from soldiering on.
In a Defense Department video, Carpenter said he had to be revived while being evacuated by helicopter from the battle and was labeled dead on arrival at a field hospital.
He later nearly died again at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he said.
“The enemy killed me,” Carpenter said in the video. “I came back, ran a marathon, completed a mud run and jumped from a plane. I won’t ever quit. I am just getting started.”