Born in Mexico City in 1979, Rafael Peralta joined the United States Marines shortly after receiving his green card in 2000. Four laters later, while fighting in the Second Battle of Fallujah in Iraq, the sergeant was first hit with AK-47 fire then — in an act of inconceivable heroism and sacrifice, pulled an incoming live enemy grenade underneath his wounded body to absorb the inevitable blast and shield the other Marines from the shrapnel, saving their lives.

In 2008, his family was notified that their son would be awarded the Navy Cross — the second-highest honor any Marine can receive — posthumously.

Then, in 2012, the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer would bear Peralta’s name.

Well, a few days ago, on Halloween, the warship — the USS Rafael Peralta — was christened by the fallen Marine’s mother at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine.

“His legacy will carry on as long as the U.S. Marine Corps and the USS Rafael Peralta stays alive, because he has become a part of American history,” said his brother, Ricardo Peralta, during the launching of the ship.

Watch the somber, inspiring ceremony in the footage below: