Marine with robotic leg gets Bronze Star

SAN DIEGO – A Marine who was left paralyzed by a sniper’s bullet in Afghanistan fulfilled a promise to himself on Friday and walked using robotic leg braces in a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, where he was awarded a Bronze Star.

The crowd of 300 Marines was silent as Capt. Derek Herrera walked. All that was heard was the faint whirring of electric motors from the device.

Herrera then stood, holding onto one crutch. With his other hand, he saluted his commanding officer, who presented him the award.

“Your drive and determination are great and you will continue to do great things, “ Lt. Col. John J. Lynch, commanding officer of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command, told him at Friday’s ceremony.

Herrera had vowed to walk at the event that also marked his retirement after 81/2 years in the military, saying he wanted to leave the Marine Corps the same way he joined. He has gone from fighting on the battlefield to becoming a strong advocate for veterans.

“I’m not out of the fight, and I’ll continue on,” he told his battalion on Friday, adding that it was “truly an honor and a pleasure to stand before you today.”

Herrera was the first person in the United States to purchase the ReWalk system recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to the company, ReWalk Robotics Ltd.

The special operations officer was honored with the Bronze Star for his actions on June 14, 2012, when the patrol he was leading came under heavy fire in Afghanistan. Herrera continued coordinating efforts while receiving treatment for his own spinal injury and collapsed left lung.