A grenade landed near Marines Kyle Carpenter and Nicholas Eufrazio while they held a rooftop position in Afghanistan in November 2010. Carpenter moved toward it in an attempt to shield his fellow Marine from the explosion.
Both men were seriously wounded. In his award-ceremony remarks, President Barack Obama said Carpenter's heart had stopped three times and doctors had brought him back. Carpenter then faced extensive surgery and a long recovery. The official Marine Corps account describes treatment lasting more than two years before his medical retirement.
On June 19, 2014, President Barack Obama presented Carpenter with the Medal of Honor. The award recognized the decision he made on that rooftop, while the years that followed demanded a different kind of persistence. His story includes the immediate act of protecting someone beside him and the sustained work of rebuilding his own life afterward.
Sources: Marine Corps: Carpenter's Medal of Honor President Obama's Medal of Honor remarks, June 19, 2014