President to give Kentucky Marine Medal of Honor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky Marine is in Washington to receive the military’s highest award for saving the lives of dozens of soldiers during a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan.

Dakota Meyer will visit President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday to receive the Medal of Honor. Meyer is the first living Marine to receive the award for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The soft-spoken farm boy from central Kentucky says he is no hero. He says he’s being recognized for the worst day of his life.

Meyer made five trips into the scene of a September 2009 ambush in the Ganjgal Valley, pulling out wounded soldiers while looking for a group of his Marine friends. He later found their bodies and dodged bullets to pull them out of a ditch.