Twelve Medal of Honor recipients are coming forward to give their public stamp-of-approval to Jeb Bush for president – a significant endorsement, given the dozen represent 15 percent of all those still living who share that highest of military recognition.
The endorsement, first reported by Fox News, will be given after Bush meets privately with veterans in Charleston, South Carolina, where he’s campaigning on Monday. Among the 12: Kyle Carpenter, a Marine lance corporal who used his body to shield another Marine from a live grenade.
“When the grenade detonated, his body absorbed the brunt of the blast, severely wounding him but saving the life of his fellow Marine,” Carpenter’s citation states, Fox News reported.
The endorsement opens the door for other veterans to view Bush in a more favorable light. South Carolina is home to 400,000 or so veterans, more than in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, all of which are early voting states, the news organization said.
The other 11 Medal of Honor recipients expected to endorse Bush include: James Livingston, Harold “Hal Fritz, Jay Vargas, Alfred Rascon, Leo Thorsness, Bruce Crandall, Robert Modrzejewski, James Taylor, Sammy Davis, Leroy Petry and Donald “Doc” Ballard. With the exception of Petry and Carpenter, both of whose service hailed from Afghanistan, all the recipients were Vietnam veterans. Thorsness was also a prisoner of war, Fox News said.
