Haerter Medal Supporters: Call Obama

The campaign seeking to have President Obama award the Medal of Honor to the late Marine Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter, of Sag Harbor, is going one step further with an organized "call in" to the White House on Wednesday. 

Joi Jackson Perle, a Wainscott resident who got a second petition going last week, is encouraging supporters to call the White House and leave a message that they want to see Haerter, and his fellow Marine Corporal Jonathan Yale, Burkeville, Va, recognized for their heroism in Iraq. Haerter was just 19 when he was killed.

"I am suggesting a call in day to make the White House, as well as the elected officials from New York and Virginia aware of what we are petitioning them about," said Perle, who has been spreading her message on a Facebook age dedicated to the call in campaign. "There's strength in numbers for sure."

She asked that people call the White House on Wednesday at (202) 456-1111 and leave a comment with one of the operators, asking that the President award the Medal of Honor to Jordan Haerter and Jonathan Yale.

Her petition, on Change.org, has 1,800 signatures as of Wednesday morning, she said. 

"Change.org reached out and wanted to feature the story in an email to other change.org members and we picked up 700 new signers after that email went out," she said.

Perle said she doesn't have a specific goal in mind for the petition, though she said she'd like to see 10,000 signatures.

Haerter and Yale were killed when a truck packed with 2,000 pounds of explosives that was speeding through a serpentine of concrete barriers on April 22, 2008. The bomb detonated, but their quick actions saved the lives of 150 Marines and Iraqi soldiers at the Joint Security Station Nasser in Ramadi.

The previous petition, on Petitions.WhiteHouse.gov, was started by an unknown person in Virginia sometime last month. It failed to garner its goal of 100,000. Haerter's parents didn't even know about the original petition until just before Christmas, less than three weeks before the deadline. 

However, there has always been a small movement to see that Haerter receives the Medal of Honor, his mother, Jo Ann Lyles told Patch in December.

To sign the petition on Change.org, click here.

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