U.S. Marine Sgt. Eriek Gutierrez, a squad leader serving

U.S. Marine Sgt. Eriek Gutierrez, a squad leader serving with 1st Platoon, Delta Company, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, led an evening resupply patrol to another squad of Marines near a small village in Helmand province's Khan Neshin district Feb. 23, 2012. While crossing a bridge that spanned a 15-foot-wide canal, Gutierrez, a 26-year-old native of Alhambra, Calif., lost his footing when the bridge shifted and fell into the canal. He was swept 50 meters down the 9-foot-deep canal, barely keeping his face above water. The point man of the patrol, Lance Cpl. Benjamin Nalls, who had fallen into the canal moments earlier, jumped back in the near-freezing water and rescued Gutierrez.