Bristol Palin’s ex-husband Dakota Meyer has been named Grand Marshal of the 105th Veterans Day Parade in New York City.
The 36-year-old Navy veteran, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, was seen celebrating his final honor ahead of Monday’s much-anticipated parade.
‘Serving in uniform is by far the greatest honor the United States of America has allowed me to do. Once we take off the uniform, becoming veterans will be just as important,” Dakota said.
He previously received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest medal for valor, in 2011, from President Barack Obama.
Dakota, who shares two young daughters with Bristol, 34, was honored for her heroic actions on Sept. 8, 2009, when the then-21-year-old corporal decided to drive to the “kill zone” in the town of Ganjgal, in Kunar. Province, Afghanistan to save US and allied Afghan troops.
After learning that Taliban soldiers had trapped his comrades, Dakota, who was wounded by shrapnel at the time, decided to defy orders to save others that day.
Dakota Meyer, 36, Bristol Palin’s ex-husband, has been chosen Grand Marshal for the 2024 New York City Veterans Day parade.
Dakota, who shares two young daughters with Bristol, was honored for his heroic actions on September 8, 2009, when he saved dozens of soldiers under attack in the village of Ganjgal, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. (Pictured: Dakota with Bristol, her two daughters and her stepson)
‘I wasn’t really thinking I might die, it was just a question of when. “I never thought I was going to come out… that’s exactly what Marines do,” Dakota recalled.
Over the course of six hours and five successive missions later, Kentucky native and Sgt. Juan Rodríguez-Chávez saved dozens of American and Afghan troops.
During their rescue mission, Dakota and Rodríguez Chávez continually entered and exited the battle zone to save as many as they could.
At that moment, one of his Humvee machine guns stopped working, prompting him to order Rodríguez Chávez to return to change vehicles so he could continue fighting.
On his third trip back to the ambush area, Dakota discovered the bodies of four missing men from his unit and was able to return them to a safe area so they could be properly extracted. ABC 7 reported.
The father-of-two then returned twice more, disregarding his own arm injury, with the help of others.
“They were defying orders, but they were doing what they thought was right,” Obama said at the Dakota Medal of Honor ceremony.
He previously received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest medal for valor, in 2011, from President Barack Obama.
‘Those who were there called it the most intense combat they had ever seen.
“Dakota and Juan would have been forgiven for not getting back in. But as Dakota says, no one is left behind,” the 44th president said.
Obama told Dakota that because of her determination, “36 men are alive today.”
“Thanks to their bravery, four fallen American heroes returned home and, in the words of James Layton’s mother, (their families) were able to lay their children to rest with dignity,” Obama added, referring to the four deceased soldiers Dakota found during the mission. .
Dakota told the former president that he accepted the award in honor of the fallen troops.
Marine Corps 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson, Marine Corps Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, Navy Petty Officer Third Class, James Layton, a medic, lost their lives that day.
Army Sgt. Private First Class Kenneth Westbrook also died after being wounded in the ambush, according to the United States Department of Defense.
Dakota is the first living American to receive the Medal of Honor for what he did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Only two other Marines received the award.
Dakota is the first living American to receive the Medal of Honor for what he did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Only two other Marines received the award.
Rodríguez Chávez, who helped Dakota on the violent mission, received the Navy Cross for his hard work that day.
Dakota left the Marine Corps in June 2010 and began working at a construction site and worked for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 2018, Dakota filed for divorce from Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
They met in May 2014 while filming Sarah Palin’s Sportsman Channel show Amazing America.
The couple married in a private ceremony in 2016, just over a year after calling off their first wedding just days before the ceremony.
Dakota and Bristol met in May 2014 during her mother, Sarah Palin’s, Sportsman Channel’s Amazing America show. He filed for divorce from the Teen Mom star in 2018.
They share two daughters, Sailor, eight, and Atlee, seven.
The couple had planned to get married over Memorial Day weekend in Dakota’s home state of Kentucky in 2015, but the wedding was canceled at the last second.
That December, Bristol gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Sailor Grace.
Six months after she announced her birth, Bristol and Dakota surprised everyone by revealing that they were married.
Dakota had first revealed that he and Bristol were back together a few days earlier with a photo he posted on Facebook and Instagram, which showed his ex-fiancé wearing a diamond ring.
Bristol, who appeared on the reality show Teen Mom, also has a son named Tripp, 15, who she shares with her ex-fiancé Levi Johnston, 34.
They share two daughters, Sailor, eight, and Atlee, seven. (Pictured: An undated image of the family in a hospital room after Atlee’s birth)
In August of this year, Bristol expressed her anguish over her son’s decision to leave his family home in Texas to live with his father in Alaska.
At the time, the Wasilla, Alaska native posted a picture of her two youngest daughters in an Instagram post, with caption explaining how she’s coping with Tripp’s move.
“This has been the hardest ‘first day of school’ and yet I have been missing one of the biggest pieces of my heart,” Bristol said. ‘Tripp has decided to finish high school in Alaska to be closer to his father and our entire family.
“If you know Tripp, you know he lives to hunt and fish, and I honestly can’t blame him for wanting to come home.”
“As difficult as it was to make this decision, it’s really not about what I want,” Bristol said.
Bristol cited her son’s growth and the value of him spending time with his father to explain how she is handling the family issue.
‘He’s almost 16 and that relationship with his father is so much more important than my own selfish desires to have him with his mom forever!’ Bristol said.