As the Marines crawled uphill, the heavily armed rebels let loose a hail of gunfire, inflicting heavy casualties on the two Companies.

      Seeing the dead and the wounded – and realizing how difficult it was to maneuver to vantage position – the Commanding Officer ordered his men to withdraw.

      Hearing the order, Private First Class Nestor Acero volunteered: “Sir, while you are pulling back, I will hold the line.”

      Acero was acting not purely out of courage but out of that keen sense of brotherhood which flowed in a Marine's vein. The massive enemy salvo had downed his friend, Private First Class Buaya, and there was no way he would permit the rebels to capture or finish off his wounded comrade.

      Evacuating Buaya was next to impossible considering the heavy volume of gunfire the enemy was unleashing. Acero decided to stand his ground.

      Reinforcements arrived the following day. But, by then, the rebels had retreated. In the bloodied field, the fresh troops found Acero – his body still warm, his M-16 intact – with his left arm cradling the neck of his fallen comrade. A few meters away, at least 30 rebels lay dead. Acero had put up a gallant stand. “He was really a good soldier, “ a Marine Sergeant commented. “They couldn't get near him.”

      Due to exigencies of the pocket wars which the military waged against insurgents, details of the fallen Marine's Jolo heroics came to the attention of the AFP's High Command more than ten years later.

      On March 25, 1983, Claro Acero proudly received the Medal of Valor posthumously awarded to his courageous son.