Jonathan T. Yale

Jonathan T. Yale was born in Burkeville, Virginia, on January 22, 1987. He graduated from Prince Edward County High School in 2006 and joined the Marine Corps soon after. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.[1][2] Yale's unit deployed to Iraq in October 2007 and were stationed at Joint Security Station Nasser in the city of Ramadi in Al Anbar Province.

On April 22, 2008, Yale was standing guard with a marine from 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, and two Iraqi policemen at the Entry Control Point of the compound, which looked down an alleyway. At 0745, a suicide truck bomb turned down the alleyway and barrelled towards the entrance point. The Iraqi policemen ran from the gate while Yale and Haerter opened fire on the vehicle. The two Marines managed to bring the truck to a stop just a few feet from their position. Just six seconds after the truck entered the alleyway, it detonated with 2,000 pounds of explosives and killed both Yale and Haerter as they continued firing their weapons.[3][4] Yale's unit rotated back to the United States the next month.

Yale and Haerter were credited with stopping the truck from crashing through the gate and saving the lives of more than 50 U.S. marines and Iraqi policemen and were recommended for the Navy Cross by General John F. Kelly.[3][4] Their families were presented with their Navy Crosses on February 20, 2009. Yale was buried in a family cemetery in Meherrin, Virginia.[1]

• 1983 Beirut barracks bombings
• Jordan C. Haerter