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Act of Honor
Military.com | Bob Frost | May 01, 2007
A young Marine stands beneath a tree in a cemetery in Southern California. Behind him, a row of white gravestones stretches across a field.

Sgt. Nicholas Jones begins speaking about Rafael Peralta, a fellow Marine sergeant, who died in Iraq in 2004 and is buried here.

“He’s a hero,” says Jones.

Nearby, a small group of people listens, including the mother of the dead Marine, Rosa Maria Peralta. One person in the group translates Jones’ words into Spanish, Rosa’s first language.

“He’s the bravest man I ever knew,” Jones says. “I think about him every day.”

“Every day that I wake up and I see my wife and my family -- I owe it all to him.” Jones’s voice becomes thick with emotion. He pauses briefly, collects himself, and continues. “I want to say ‘thank you’ for raising a son the way that you did.”

Jones walks toward the grieving mother, and they embrace.

So begins the documentary “Act of Honor,” airing May 19 on The History Channel and The History Channel en español, about the life and death of Rafael Peralta, born in Mexico City in 1979, raised in Tijuana and San Diego, and killed in Fallujah, Iraq, in November of ’04.

He died a hero.

***

The city of Fallujah stands on the Euphrates River about 45 miles west of Baghdad. Seven thousand years ago, the Euphrates watered the land of Mesopotamia, the “cradle of civilization.” Fallujah has been inhabited since Babylonian times, and for centuries was a haven for scholars.

The city became a flash point for militant insurgency in 2003 and 2004. In March of ’04, a Fallujah mob attacked a convoy transporting four private U.S. contractors. After murdering the Americans, the mob draped two of their corpses on a bridge spanning the Euphrates. A horrifying photograph of the incident was published world-wide.

The U.S. Marine Corps, joined by a contingent of Iraqis, launched Operation Phantom Fury in November, 2004, seeking control of Fallujah. The battle was successful. The cost was high -- 100 Marines died and more than 1,000 were wounded. One of the fatalities was Sgt. Rafael Peralta, age 25, a member of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment.

The facts of Peralta’s death are harsh and altogether extraordinary.

He volunteered to join a team engaged in a dangerous task, door-to-door house clearings in northern Fallujah in the early morning hours of November 15. At about the fifth house that his group entered, Peralta was hit by insurgent rifle fire. He fell to the floor, badly wounded but still conscious. Several other Marines crouched just inches or feet from where he lay. Then, one of the enemies threw or rolled a grenade toward the Americans.

“He reached over with his right hand and grabbed it and pulled it under his chest,” says Nicholas Jones in the film. The grenade exploded, killing Peralta instantly. Several Marines, including Jones, were saved by his action.

The annals of U.S. military history record a tiny handful of similar acts, including at least two by Marines. During World War II, Pvt. James LaBelle dove onto a Japanese grenade to save his fellows. In Vietnam, Cpl. Richard Anderson performed a similar act. Both men were killed, and both received the Medal of Honor posthumously. Peralta has been nominated for this supreme award, and, in the words of one columnist, “is likely to receive it.”

***

There’s a wonderful photograph of the Peralta family, taken about 10 years ago, that gives some sense of their love for one another. Several members of the clan were living then in Tijuana, Mexico, while the patriarch, Rafael Sr., worked in California. The family got together often for outings -- four children, two parents, and a great deal of laughter. In the photo, they’ve gathered around somebody who’s dressed as Mickey Mouse. The family is beaming, immersed in the joy of American life, and the happiness of one another’s company. This photo appears in “Act of Honor” along with others, bringing to life a core theme of the film: family.

Young Rafael Peralta, or “Rafa,” thought carefully about his future as he grew up in Tijuana and San Diego in the 1980s and ’90s. He earned excellent grades and thought he might become a lawyer. While in high school, he decided to join the Marine Corps and postpone college until after his service. He was ecstatic on the day in the late ’90s when he got a green card, not only because it granted him legal U.S. residency, but because he could now sign up with the Marines. (He later became a citizen, while serving in the US Marine Corps. The wall of his bedroom holds a copy of the U.S. Constitution.)

By all accounts he was a superb warrior. “Did his job,” says Sgt. Timothy Buquoi in the film, in the brusque shorthand of a seasoned fighter: “Cared about his guys.” Buquoi adds a telling detail: “Cared a lot about his family. Was always talking about his family.” (Timothy Buquoi made a video diary in Iraq. This riveting footage is a key element in the documentary.)

In the film, Nicholas Jones adds another fact about Peralta: “He was quite the dresser, quite the dancer. Definitely a ladies’ man.” Jones mentions an additional detail, helping us to better understand a complex young man: “He was just constantly reading the Bible.” And this: “He used to make me so mad. He used to say...that he had a bad feeling that something was gonna happen.”

***

What happened in Fallujah on 11/15/04 has become part of the fabric of the nation -- one of Lincoln’s “mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land...”

Meanwhile, the Peralta family grieves for its fallen son and brother.

The concluding section of the documentary probes the subtleties of war, remembrance, family obligation, love of country, and the pain of motherhood. And it touches briefly on an unsettling, yet understandable, yearning for revenge.

This final section centers on Rafael’s younger brother and sister, Ricardo and Karen, teenagers who are giving serious thought to enlisting -- especially Ricardo, a fresh-faced lad of 16 who plans to join the Marines in two years, because, he says, “I promised my brother I would...He always wanted me to join the Corps...I feel like I have to avenge somehow.” His mother doesn’t want him to go, but, as she says, “He’ll reach an age when he can sign himself up. And he’ll be sent off.” In this moment, her face and voice hold all the resignation, and love, of mothers since ancient times.

In the film’s final minutes, young Ricardo reads aloud a letter from Rafael: “Be proud of me, bro...I’m proud to be a Marine...You should be proud of being an American citizen. After all, our Dad came to this country and became a citizen because it was a right place for us, our family, to be.”

“The film is about family, and about love,” says Marlene Braga, executive producer. “It’s about Rafael’s family of origin, in Mexico and later in California, and about his family of choice, the Marines, and, by extension, America. He felt profound love for all of his families. This love informed his sense of duty, and his willingness, on that tragic day, to make the ultimate sacrifice.”

***

We should ask a final question. Would Rafael Peralta have taken satisfaction from being singled out for a big program on The History Channel and an article in Military.com? Judging from our knowledge of him, the answer is almost certainly “no.” He would have wished that special regard could be given to all his fellow Americans in the war zone.

But he would also realize that, in time of war, certain stories resonate with universal meaning. In the words of one author, by giving special attention to a few, we recognize “the courage and sacrifice of all good American soldiers” -- whatever their names, whatever their deeds, and whatever their hometowns.

The world premiere of Act of Honor will be simulcast in English on The History Channel and in Spanish on The History Channel en español on Saturday, May 19, 2007 at 7 pm ET.

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