For one United States Marine, Sunday’s San Diego Padres game could not have been any sweeter.
Each Sunday home game, the Padres honor members of the military at Petco Park, and this weekend was no different. But this weekend’s edition of the event featured a very distinguished guest.
Marine Corporal Kyle Carpenter attended the game after receiving the Medal of Honor last week from President Barack Obama at the White House. During a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2010, Carpenter dove on a grenade to save another soldier’s life. He suffered multiple injuries — including a shattered right arm — and had to undergo 40 surgeries.
“I was labeled PEA, which is patient expired on arrival, the politically correct way of saying, ‘you didn’t make it,’” Carpenter said, via CBS 8 in San Diego.
Just four four years after the near-death incident, Carpenter threw out the first pitch before Sunday’s Dodgers-Padres game. A special moment for an incredible soldier.
Check out the video below of Carpenter’s first pitch.
[mlbvideo id=”33960817″ width=”640″ height=”360″ /]
