LOUISVILLE, Ky. » Medal of Honor winner Dakota Meyer is frustrated by a published report that said the military exaggerated its official account of his bravery, a close friend of the former Kaneohe Bay Marine said Thursday.

Chris Schmidt, a college administrator in Columbia, Ky., spoke with Meyer Thursday morning. Schmidt said Meyer thought the report by McClatchy Newspapers was off base because it "makes it so little about … the men that we lost that day."

McClatchy reported in a story published Thursday that its review of documents turned up numerous "untrue, unsubstantiated or exaggerated" assertions about the 2009 Afghanistan firefight.

Meyer, a native of Green County, was awarded the military’s highest honor in a ceremony at the White House with the president in September.

The military’s public statement on the battle said Meyer saved 13 American and 23 Afghan soldiers’ lives, and he "personally killed at least eight Taliban insurgents, while providing cover for his team to fight their way out."

Obama spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday the award was based on sworn testimony and reviewed by the Marine Corps.

The newspaper report by McClatchy correspondent Jonathan Landay, who was embedded with the military and witnessed the Sept. 8, 2009, battle, based the story on analysis of dozens of military documents, including sworn statements by Meyer and others involved in the firefight.

Landay also wrote that Meyer displayed heroism that day and deserves the award despite the inconsistencies in the military’s account.

Meyer could not be reached for comment Thursday. He said on Twitter that he has been receiving an outpouring of support since the report was published. He posted a picture of the front page of a Lexington newspaper that prominently displayed the story.

"I can’t thank everyone enough for the support people on Twitter and other Americans are showing me. So Thank You all."

Schmidt, who attended the Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, said in a telephone interview that Meyer was frustrated because he’s used the opportunity of winning the medal to draw attention to fallen and wounded Marines and soldiers.

"That’s what he gets so frustrated about," Schmidt said. "He’s been very clear in almost every interview, he didn’t ask for this. But he now has learned that it’s his responsibility."

Meyer’s grandfather, Dwight Meyer, said Thursday that he hadn’t seen the story and didn’t know what it was about.

"Dakota just doesn’t talk about (the battle), because he’s had so much on his mind about it, because it’s affected him tremendously," Dwight Meyer said in a telephone interview. Meyer has been humble about receiving the honor, calling it "the worst day of his life" because his comrades died.

Marine officials said in a statement Thursday that they were "very disappointed" that McClatchy decided to publish the story. It said the award investigation process used first-person, eyewitness accounts and supporting documents and that Meyer "rightly deserved the nation’s highest military honor."

"Due to the distance and length of time the battle lasted and the fact that the majority of the participants were in a deadly fight for their lives and the lives of their comrades, the eyewitness accounts may vary in certain detail — variations that are expected," the statement said.

The McClatchy report says the military statement that Meyer saved the lives of 13 U.S. Marines and soldiers couldn’t have happened, since 12 Americans and the reporter Landay were ambushed that day. Four were killed, and a fifth would later die of injuries.

The report also says there are no statements that credit Meyer with killing eight Taliban.

The Humvee driver with Meyer during the ambush, Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez, reported seeing Meyer kill one insurgent. Rodriguez-Chavez also said he saw nine Afghan soldiers get into the Humvee by themselves while Meyer remained in the vehicle’s turret.