Marine Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, photo via The Washington Post
Marine Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, who took 99% of a grenade blast while shielding a fellow marine in Afghanistan in 2010, was yesterday awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama. Kyle, 24, is only the second living Marine to receive the award. His extraordinary recovery came after two and a half years spent in the hospital, multiple surgeries, resuscitations, and a long process of rehabilitation. The president awarded him the honor for “conspicuous gallantry” and praised the advances of modern medicine, noting that the ceremony was a “reminder that in past wars, somebody with injuries as severe as Kyle’s probably wouldn’t have survived.”
Kyle was one of several wounded troops to feature in “The Joe Bonham Project,” an exhibition curated by The New Criterion’s James Panero at Storefront Bushwick in 2011. The exhibition, which opened just before the tenth anniversary of 9/11, presented artwork by wartime illustrators documenting the rehabilitation of those wounded in combat. Kyle, thanks to his willingness to share his story and his incredible healing, was the subject of a portrait by Rob Bates.
Kyle Carpenter by Rob Bates; via thestory.org
Formed in 2011 by Michael D. Fay, the Project takes its name from the central character in the 1938 novel Johnny Got His Gun, a soldier isolated from the rest of the world due to the severity of his wounds. James stressed that the importance of the exhibition lay not only in the quality of the artwork, but also in continuing to remember the sacrifices made by troops. “Through portraiture, artists from both military and civilian life now work to ensure that today’s soldiers do not become tomorrow’s Joe Bonham’s.”
At The New Criterion, we applaud Kyle for his endurance and exceptional bravery.