Fan Request: Medal of Honor Recipient, Cpl. Kyle Carpenter | Letterman

Ladies and gentlemen, our first guest. Thank you, Felicia. Our first guest is the only, only the second living Marine since Vietnam to receive the Medal of Honor, our nation's highest award for valor. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Corporal Kyle Carpenter. I will just say, and I hope I don't anger others, but this uniform, the Marine dress uniform, the best there is, my friend. I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. How you doing? Excellent. I told the people before the show, I was watching the presentation when you were in the Oval Office, not the Oval Office, another room where they make the presentation, and I thought the, well, I don't know, what is the room? You were there. East Wing. The East Wing. And I thought the President's remarks before they give you the award were the, lovely, absolutely perfect. And then later I saw you talking to a gentleman who had won a Medal of Honor, or received, it's not a contest, he received a Medal of Honor. And he said some things to you that really made an impression on me about who receives the Medal of Honor and what that symbolizes. Do you remember what I'm talking about? And he said that it's not just for you, this medal is for everyone who puts on the uniform for the United States. Yes, sir. You know, I absolutely feel that way. I think we all do. You know, this medal is more than, it's just more than, it's more than a medal. The ideas, the history, it just, it represents so much. Not only does it represent those that have sacrificed, those that have not come back, but our rich military history. And just everything we've come to, to become such a great nation and up to this point. And adds to you and everyone who receives the Medal of Honor, a great pressure to represent that throughout your life. So it's a wonderful responsibility to have. Yes, sir. How are you doing physically? You okay? You look great. Thank you. No, I'm doing great. In the gym every day. I'm a student at the University of South Carolina. What are you studying? Going into my sophomore year, and I think I'm going to declare psychology. With everything I've been through, and I took a class this past year, which was my freshman year. I really enjoyed it. It really interested me. Good. And were you in class, in school, there when you received the call? Who calls you to announce that you are the new recipient? Well, about a week ahead of time, I got the exact day and time that the president would call me. So I got out of class. I drove home about 30 minutes. My parents checked my brothers out of school. We were all there in the living room to share that important special moment in my life. And we hung up, and I went back to class. Drove back to class. Yeah. I'm sorry I'm late, professor. I just got a call from the president. I'm not saying it was easy to focus. Yes. Now, because I don't know how this works, tell me. Did you know ahead of time, other than the call arranging the call, that this was a likelihood for you? Well, there definitely has to be some cause for preparation purposes. And they did. They started coming a few months before. Started out not so official, just checking on me, seeing how things were going, where I was at in life. And then they kind of progressed to that point. Yeah. And since you've received the award, what has been the reaction from your friends in college, your family, and their friends, and so forth? I mean, not just since I received the award, since the moment I was injured. The love and support, appreciation, and just the positive backing that I've had, I just can't say enough about. And really, that just carried over since getting the award. But my community, and my school, and the students, and just really since being injured, the letters that poured in from all over the nation, it's just been really incredible. Kyle, now when we come back, if you don't mind, I would like you to tell us what it was that transpired. This was in Afghanistan? Yes, sir. And we'll talk a little bit about that. You mind if I ask your age? 24. 24. I'm three times your age. We've had many of the recent recipients on the program, and what I've known is the story is always just about the same. The Marine Corps, in this case, you're dispatched to a really, really remote part of Afghanistan. It takes you a week and a half to get there. And when you get there, you look around, and you, well, where, oh, there's nothing here. Is that about what this was? That's pretty accurate. You know, we got there. I was injured four months into deployment. That's the amount of time I went without a shower, sleeping on the ground, all of the water and MREs, which is prepackaged meals, and ammo, really anything we needed. We had to get a supply drop by helicopter. And is it apparent to you when you get to this area that it is necessary, that strategically it needs to be held? Is that obvious when you get there? Absolutely. I mean, the people over there that live under, not so much anymore because of the great job we've done, but just the Taliban rule and the strong hand that they use to control the people and the amount of freedom that those people don't have is just really incredible. Right. The other thing that I've noticed that you and your fellow servicemen have in common is that there's a constant attack. Sometimes it's just fire here and there. Sometimes it's all day. Sometimes it's at night. But it becomes routine. Whether you're used to it or not, it becomes routine. Very much. And this was your case, except for one or two days they start changing the ammunition. It now becomes grenades. Am I right about that? Yes, sir. Well, we had spent four months at the patrol base that entire time at the same spot. And we had got a mission to push south where there was no Marines and it was a strong, I guess, an enemy stronghold. We got a mission to push down. We knew it was going to be a bad fight. We knew we were probably going to take casualties, but it was necessary to push that Marine presence out further, furthermore helping local populations and trying to rid that, I guess, that territory of the enemy. Now, when you get that order, what does that do to you inside? Are you ready to go? Are you thinking, oh, damn, we've got to go do this? Or is it all training? Is it adrenaline? What happens when you realize, okay, we're moving, we have an objective, and we're going to go after it? Well, you know, it's what we were there for. It's what we signed up for. You're right. It had become part of daily life. Our squad drew the short straw. So, you know, we headed down there, and, you know, shortly after moving in, the first grenade attack came. Yeah. Tell us where you were when you were injured and the circumstances about that. Myself, a fellow Marine, best friend, we were on top of a roof, and we were what's called, we were on post, which is, I guess in civilian terms, like a lookout position to protect the Marines inside the mud compound because, really, there's no roofs over there. So we were on top of the little tiny roof that they used to sleep in, and the grenade attack came. I don't remember any of the moments leading up to it. Help me out here. In the movies, we see grenades being thrown. Were these being thrown, or were they being launched? They were being thrown right into the compound by enemy fighters. So the enemy is fairly close. Very much. Yeah. And how many Marines are then you looking up for the welfare? I would say we only went down there with about 12. Twelve. Okay. Go ahead. And so the only thing I remember for that entire day is the sound of small arms fire, AK-47, their primary choice of weapon. That morning, which is kind of like our alarm clock on a regular basis. And then the only thing I remember after that is physically how my body felt after I was hit by the grenade. You're hit when you're up on the roof. You're in that position with two other Marines? Just one. Just one other Marine. Okay. So you know something has happened to your body, and your perception is obviously very strange at that moment. It was. I was confused because the last thing I remembered, I was on top of a roof, and I didn't know if I had been patrolling and stepped on IED, and that's just the last thing I could remember. After, when I got hit, my vision was almost like if a TV didn't have cable and it was just white and gray static. My ears were ringing very loud. I couldn't hear anything because of my ruptured eardrums. The next thing I felt was warm water. I felt like warm water was being poured all over me from the blood loss. You're 22 years old when this happens. 21. 21 years old. Yes, sir. And the reason you suffered these massive injuries is because what did you do? You put yourself between your buddy and the grenade. You fell on the grenade. What was the actual action on your part? From eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence and a post-blast analysis, I shielded and covered the grenade for my fellow Marine. This is fascinating because this is nearly a textbook case of combat. Is this because of Kyle Carpenter, or is this because of Kyle Carpenter, the Marine? Well, you know, the second we step on the yellow footprints at boot camp, it's instilled to us that there's a bigger purpose, that the uniform we wear has a rich history and legacy of Marines that have been heroic before us to take care of our junior Marines, and that when we get in those bad parts of the world that nobody wants to go to, the Marines to our right and left is all we have. So I would like to say it was me. I like to think it was a little bit me, but absolutely the Marine Corps and our history and just everything we stand for makes us want to be courageous and do those things. Well, God bless you. I'm going to now, if it's all right with you, I'm going to run down the list of injuries you incurred. Is that okay? Yes, sir. You're comfortable with that? Yes, sir. I mean, I'm not hiding from anybody. Okay. Countless shattered bones throughout the body. Countless, more than a dozen or something like that? Thirty in this arm. Thirty in one arm. I'm an overachiever. Shrapnel in both legs. Carotid artery in neck punctured. Punctured, ladies and gentlemen. Both eardrums ruptured. Lost most of his teeth. Arm broken in more than 30 places. Collapsed right lung. Lost most of your jaw. Is that true? Yes, sir. Lost most of your jaw. Well, the almost three years I spent in the hospital, much of that time and most of my around 40 surgeries was facial. Pretty much everything from the eyes down is plates and reconstructive surgeries and fun stuff like that. You look wonderful. Thank you. I would like to take this opportunity to absolutely credit Walter Reed and the military medicine and the staff there. You just did a phenomenal job. Lost the vision in his right eye. There was brain surgery to remove shrapnel and he had a fractured skull. And now, like this other stuff is not enough, you flatlined three times. In fact, at the scene they thought you were dead, didn't they? Yes, sir. Well, when I arrived at Camp Bastion, which was the first combat trauma hospital out of four that I went through, I was labeled PEA, which I guess is politically correct way. It stands for patient expired on arrival. But I was not like that. What was your first moment of cognition after this trauma? How long after the trauma and what was it? About five weeks later, I woke up and the first thing I saw was my mom had decorated my room to fit the Christmas holiday and I saw a stocking for every single one of my family members hung on my hospital wall in front of my bed. Well, I don't know what to say. I wish you nothing but the best in life. Thank you so much. Thank you for your sacrifice. And as a parent, I hope to God my son does not ever have to go through what you have gone through. But in some way, I hope he is able to manifest the same courage. Thank you so much. It's a great honor to meet you. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Purple Kyle Carpenter, ladies and gentlemen, your Medal of Honor recipient. We'll be right back with Mark Ruffalo.