Northern Strike

Gunnery Sgt. Louis M. Nokes is awarded the Purple Heart at Marine Corps Support Facility New Orleans, Dec. 5, 2022. In 2005, then Sgt. Nokes' Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) was struck by an improvised explosive device while conducting a convoy operation in Ramadi, Iraq. Nokes' was knocked unconscious and was pulled from the burning MTVR receiving a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Nokes began the process to receive his Purple Heart retroactively after MARADMIN 245/11 was published updating the Marine Corps' criteria on the Purple Heart award including TBIs. The Purple Heart Medal is the United States' oldest military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded in the service of this country. Nokes is a native of Carrollton, Mississippi and attended high school at Carroll Academy. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Samwel Tabancay)