Dakota Meyer visits the White House (Medal of Honor winner)

from OBAMA Food-o-rama blog (Wednesday Sept. 14, 2011)

President Obama chatted over beers with Dakota Meyer on the patio outside of the Oval Office today, according to Press Secretary Jay Carney. The White House posted a photo of the meeting to the official Flickr. Tomorrow afternoon, the President will present Meyer with the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House. The 23-year-old former Marine Corps Sergeant, from Greensburg, Kentucky, is a combat veteran from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Meyer is the first Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and also the first Marine to receive the Medal since the Vietnam War. He is being honored for one particular action of "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" in the Ganjgal Valley in eastern Afghanistan on Sept 8, 2009 that occurred when he was 21 years old and a corporal.

Carney wrote on Twitter that the President’s staff called Meyer during the weekend in preparation for the ceremony.

"Meyer asked the staffer if he could have a beer with the President. POTUS invited Dakota to come by the White House this afternoon," Carney tweeted. He also tweeted a brief recap of Meyer's acts of extraordinary courage.

PHOTO Viewable at http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2011/09/presidential-beer-for-medal-of-honor.html