A Very Bad Day

Posted Sep 15, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Sep 15, 2011 at 05:07 PM

“It was a very bad day.”

That’s how Dakota Meyer described for me Sept. 8, 2009.

I thought about that this morning when I saw the media alert from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Two-year-old twins perished in a fire overnight.

I knew that this would be a very bad day.

I was supposed to cover a memorial service for Gny Sgt Aaron Kenefick, one of five men who would die on the very bad day Dakota was telling me about.

The memorial service was held at noon today on Bayshore Boulevard. It was requested by Meyer to honor those who died in the Ganjgal Valley on the very bad day.

The men were killed during an ambush by more than 50 Taliban, who rained hell on them from the village and mountains with mortars, RPGs, machine guns and small arms.

They were killed while waiting for help.

And they were killed even though Dakota Meyer and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez disregarded orders and their own safety to try and save them.

For that, Meyer was bestowed with the Medal of Honor.

I do not know why Rodriguez was not, but I plan on finding out.

Army Capt. William Swenson, who raced in with Meyer during the effort to recover the bodies, also acted above and beyond. Susan Price, Kenefick’s mother, is mounting a campaign on his behalf. She has told me over and over that Swenson is deserving of the Medal of Honor as well. I will keep you posted on that situation too.

I was hoping to watch the ceremony with Price, who lives in Riverview and is fighting a battle to find out why it took so long to get air support or covering artillery.

But it was a very bad day in Brandon.

Two very adorable little boys died and it was my job on this day to get their story. So Jeff Patterson went in my stead and Josh Poltilove wrote up this report.

Hours before President Barack Obama bestowed the Medal of Honor to a Marine credited with saving 36 lives in Afghanistan, memorial ceremonies took place honoring the five who died in the firefight.

“This is a day of celebration - not just for my family and the fallen, but for the world,” Price said. “Because we’re sharing Dakota Meyer, who was a part of my son’s life and the other fallen heroes. He’s a son of what America stands for. He’s the poster boy of what the military hopes to put out to protect our country.”