The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently visited a firebase in Iraq to award Purple Hearts to four Marines injured in a March rocket attack carried out by the Islamic State group.

On Friday, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford made the trip to the base, where Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin was killed and eight other Marines injured in the a March 19 rocket attack from the Islamic State.

"In all the years, I have not awarded anybody a Purple Heart on the ground where they received the Purple Heart," Dunford said, according to a military news release. was quoted as saying afterward in a Defense Department news story.

Dunford, who briefly served as Marine Corps commandant before assuming his current role, wanted to get a firsthand look at what the Marines at the base are doing and let them know that he supports them, said his spokesman Navy Capt. Gregory Hicks.

In addition to talking to the Marines about their mission and thanking them for their service, Dunford spoke with the sergeant who replaced Cardin after he was killed, according to the release Defense Department news story.

"When I spoke about Staff Sergeant Cardin, his eyes were welling up," Dunford said in the story. "I told him, ‘I really appreciate you taking care of these guys; they are counting on you and I know Staff Sergeant Cardin is kind of looking down. He would be doing what you are doing, which is merely tightening his chin strap and getting on with it, and I appreciate you doing that.’"

Cardin, 27, was a field artilleryman assigned to Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. Originally from Temecula, California, Cardin joined the Marine Corps in June 2006 and was based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He deployed to Iraq once and to Afghanistan three times.

Dunford did not take any media with him when he presented awarded the Purple Hearts. He told reporters afterward that he did not want the Marines there to think he was only visiting them for a "photo op." the  Defense Department news story says.

U.S. Marines with Task Force Spartan, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), on Fire Base Bell, Iraq, fire an M777A2 Howitzer at an ISIS infiltration route March 18, 2016. The Marines fired upon the enemy infiltration routes in order to disrupt their freedom of movement and ability to attack Kurdish and Peshmerga forces. Operation Inherent Resolve is an international U.S. led coalition military operation created as part of a comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Andre Dakis/Released)

Marines with Task Force Spartan, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fire an M777A2 howitzer at an Islamic State group infiltration route in Iraq.

Photo Credit: Cpl. Andre Dakis/Marine Corps

Between 100 and 200 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are deployed to the Kara Soar Counter Fire Complex, formerly known as Firebase Bell, which is a separate and secure part of an Iraqi installation.

From there, the Marines use their M777A2 howitzers to provide artillery support to Iraqi forces who are clearing positions around Mosul, Iraqi’s second largest city, which fell to ISIS the Islamic State group nearly two years ago.

Marines have repelled at least one attack by ISIS militants Islamic State fighters since the attack that killed Staff Sgt. Cardin was killed.

"Two enemy [fighters were] killed in that operation, the rest ran away in fear," Army Col. Steve Warren, a Defense Department spokesman, said on March 21.

The ISIS Islamic State rocket expert believed responsible for the March 19 attack on the base was killed in an April 3 drone strike.

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