New Petition Started Seeking Medal of Honor for Jordan Haerter

While the first petition moving that President Obama award the Medal of Honor to a Sag Harbor war hero didn't garner as much participation as some had hoped, another petition has been started with the same intention.

Just before Christmas, Marine Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter's family discovered an online petition seeking the military's highest honor for Haerter, 19, and the marine with whom he was killed five years ago in Iraq, Corporal Jonathan Yale, of Burkeville, Va.

They were stopped 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, killing them, but their quick actions saved the lives of 150 Marines and Iraqi soldiers at the Joint Security Station Nasser in Ramadi.

The petition's goal was 100,000 signatures by Jan. 5. Only about 5,000 people signed the petition, which was listed on Petitions.WhiteHouse.gov.

Joi Jackson Perle, a Wainscott resident, initiated the second petition on Change.org.

"As the mother of an only child myself, a son, I just can't even imagine the heartache of losing your baby," she said. "If their actions aren't worthy of the Medal of Honor I don't what is."

Haerter was the only child of JoAnn Lyles and Christian Haerter.

Those who already signed the White Petition are asked to sign the Change.org petition, as well. Click here, to sign the petition.