Marine Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter kneels beside Gen. James F. Amos, the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps, while being introduced to guests at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, at the National Harbor in Maryland on Nov. 9, 2013. 
 
 WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will award medically retired Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter the Medal of Honor later this year in recognition of Carpenter’s heroic actions during a November 2010 grenade attack in Afghanistan, according to a Marine Corps Times report, which cited unnamed officials as sources. 
 
 Spokespersons for the Marine Corps and the White House would not confirm the status of Carpenter’s case to Stars and Stripes, pending a potential White House announcement. 
 
 Carpenter, 24, would be the 10th U.S. servicemember — and the second Marine — to receive the Medal of Honor from the war in Afghanistan. 
 
 Carpenter was nominated for the nation’s highest award for valor following reports that he covered a grenade to save the life of his friend, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Eufrazio, during an insurgent attack in the Marjah district of Helmand province as the two Marines were standing guard on a rooftop on Nov. 21, 2010. Carpenter and Eufrazio survived the blast, but suffered severe wounds. Carpenter lost an eye and most of his teeth and shattered his jaw; his arm was also broken in several places. 
 
 Damage from shrapnel to the frontal lobe of Eufrazio’s brain left him unable to speak for two years. 
 
 The Marine Corps investigation of the incident to determine whether Carpenter deserved the award was complicated by several factors: There were no other witnesses, Carpenter couldn’t remember what happened because of trauma and Eufrazio was unable to speak until late 2012. 
 
 But Marines who were deployed with Carpenter told the Marine Corps Times that they believed Carpenter took the brunt of the grenade blast to save Eufrazio because of the nature of the wounds he sustained. Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher Frend, the Navy corpsman who triaged the two Marines, said the blast seat of the grenade — which indicates the detonation location — was found on Carpenter’s torso. Frend said Carpenter’s injury would have been different if the grenade had exploded on top of him instead of under him, which suggests that Carpenter smothered the grenade with his body. 
 
 In 2011, the state legislature of South Carolina, Carpenter’s home state, passed a resolution honoring Carpenter for his service and sacrifices, citing his reported actions during the grenade attack. 
 
 After a long recovery and more than 30 surgeries, Carpenter ran the Marine Corps Marathon last year and posted a time of 4:28:42, according to the ‘Operation Kyle’ Facebook page, which was created by Carpenter’s supporters. 
 
 “It’s hard to comprehend that three years ago today my life and body was torn apart by an enemy hand grenade on a hot dusty rooftop in Afghanistan,�? Carpenter wrote on the Operation Kyle page last year, on the third anniversary of the attack. “At times it has felt so long ago and yet, when I close my eyes, I can still feel the warm blood pouring out of me onto my skin and fading out of consciousness with my the final thought of “I’m going to die�? in my head ... 
 
 “And here I am. I just want to thank and remind all of you how much it means and how truly appreciative I am for every comment, message, word of encouragement and prayer you have sent my way since that day in November 2010. You have helped get me to where I am today and for that I will be forever grateful. It took a life changing event to get me to truly appreciate the precious and amazing life I have been blessed with. 
 
 “Please take it from me … enjoy everyday to the fullest, don’t take life too seriously, always try to make it count, appreciate the small and simple things, be kind and help others, let the ones you love always know you love them and when things get hard, trust there is a bigger plan and that you will be stronger for it.�? 
 
 harper.jon@stripes.com 
 
 Twitter: @JHarperStripes 
 
 

 Sources: Marine Kyle Carpenter will receive MoH for heroism in Afghanistan 
 
 William Kyle Carpenter, a Marine Corps veteran who was severely wounded during a November 2010 grenade attack in Afghanistan, will receive the nation's highest combat valor award later this year, 
 
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– A Marine credited with throwing himself on a grenade to save a buddy, suffering devastating injuries in so doing will become the third US marine of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to receive the Medal of Honor, the Marine Corps Times reports. William Kyle Carpenter, now a 24-year-old medically retired corporal, dove on a grenade as the pair stood guard on a rooftop in Afghanistan in November 2010. The explosion shattered his jaw, broke his arm in several places, cost him his right eye and most of his teeth, and forced him to undergo more than 30 surgeries, while his friend, Nicholas Eufrazio, also suffered a brain injury so bad that he wasn't able to speak until recently. "Our feeling has always been that Kyle shielded Nick from that blast," Carpenter's platoon sergeant says, though the Marine Corps Times notes no one actually witnessed the explosion. Carpenter himself can't remember what happened—though last year he recalled "warm blood pouring out of me onto my skin and fading out of consciousness with my the final thought of 'I'm going to die' in my head," per Stars and Stripes. A triage worker who initially treated the pair, however, says the grenade's point of detonation was beneath Carpenter's torso and his injuries indeed indicated he covered it. "If he hadn't done it, what we found would have looked completely different."