A third U.S. secretary of defense has denied a Medal of Honor for Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a Hawaii-based Marine who was killed in house-to-house fighting in Iraq in 2004.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced Friday that he will not reopen the Medal of Honor nomination for Peralta.

"After extensively familiarizing himself with the history of Sgt. Peralta’s nomination, Secretary Hagel determined the totality of the evidence does not meet the proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ Medal of Honor award standard," the Pentagon said.

The ongoing rejection comes at the same time the Washington Post revealed in a story Friday the stunning news that two of the Marines with Peralta now say the extraordinary valor attributed to the Marine was made up shortly after he was mortally wounded.

"It has always bugged me," Davi Allen, a Marine who was wounded in the engagement, told the Post.

At least four Marines with Peralta on Nov. 15, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, stated in written reports that they saw the short and stocky sergeant nicknamed "Rafa" pull a grenade to his body after it had bounced into a room, saving the lives of others.

The 25-year-old was with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment out of Kaneohe Bay.

Allen, who was wounded in the grenade blast, said he watched the device detonate near, but not underneath, Peralta. After years of sticking to the prevailing narrative of Peralta’s final act of bravery, he recently decided to tell the truth, the newspaper said.

"I knew it’s not the truth. But who wants to be the one to tell a family, Your son was not a hero’?" he was quoted as saying.

The Post story also said Reggie Brown, another Marine who was with Peralta that day, recalled one member of the squad saying that claiming Peralta jumped on the grenade would be a good way to honor his legacy.

"I disagree with everything my fellow Marines proclaim to have seen," Brown said in the newspaper story.

But other Hawaii Marines who were in the Iraqi house that day stick by claims of Peralta’s extraordinary bravery.

Robert Reynolds, one of the Alpha Company Marines, repeatedly said in the past that Peralta saved the lives of as many as five Marines.

The notion that Marines had agreed to make up the story was impossible, Reynolds told the Washington Post more recently.

Nicholas Jones, the squad leader, called Brown’s account "ridiculous" and said there was no effort to come up with a "conspiracy theory," the Post reported.

Congressional inquiries kept the Medal of Honor quest alive. The Defense Department said it has taken "extraordinary measures" to ensure Peralta’s nomination received full consideration.

Former Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, and now Hagel, have examined the case, "and each independently concluded the evidence does not support" the award of the Medal of Honor, the Pentagon said.

"The standard for the Medal of Honor is extremely high, as one would expect for our nation’s most prestigious military medal," the Defense Department added. "Secretary Hagel and the department remain forever grateful to Sgt. Peralta for his selfless service to our nation."

A Medal of Honor recommendation for Peralta made it through examinations by the Marine Corps, U.S. Central Command and the Department of the Navy before being rejected by five individuals appointed in an unusual move by Gates, then defense secretary, to review the nomination.

Questions were raised as to whether Peralta, who likely was hit in the head by friendly fire, had the mental capacity to knowingly reach out and cradle the grenade.

Gates revealed in his book, "Duty," that he appointed the special panel after someone threatened to file a complaint with the Pentagon inspector general over the Medal of Honor recommendation, the Washington Post said.

A Navy Cross citation for Peralta states:

"Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own personal safety, Sgt. Peralta reached out and pulled the grenade to his body, absorbing the brunt of the blast and shielding fellow Marines only feet away."

Peralta was a Mexican immigrant from California who joined the Corps right after getting his green card. The Navy named a new destroyer after Peralta.