Two To Receive Posthumous Navy Cross Medals

Two Marines who died thwarting an attack upon their standing post in Ramadi, Iraq, will receive posthumous Navy Cross medals in a Feb. 20 ceremony at Quantico Marine Corps Base, Va. The two Marines, Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter of Sag Harbor, N.Y., and Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale of Burkeville, Va., immediately recognized the potential threat when they say a truck moving toward their position at an entry-control point on April 22, 2008. They fired upon the vehicle and stopped it before it could breach the checkpoint, but not before a suicide bomber could detonate the nearly 2,000 pounds of explosives it carried. The blast killed Haerter and Yale. Comrades credit them with saving their lives. Haerter was assigned to 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment; Yale served with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. Both units are part of the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 2nd Marine Division.