Semper Fidelis
President Bush announced that the Congressional Medal of Honor will be awarded to Marine corporal Jason Dunham. The award is posthumous, as far too many of the awards are.
(CNN) — President Bush announced on Friday that the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, will be awarded posthumously to Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham.
In April 2004, Dunham was leading a patrol in an Iraqi town near the Syrian border when the patrol stopped a convoy of cars leaving the scene of an attack on a Marine convoy, according to military and media accounts of the action.
An occupant of one of the cars attacked Dunham and the two fought hand to hand. As they fought, Dunham yelled to fellow Marines, "No, no watch his hand." The attacker then dropped a grenade and Dunham hurled himself on top of it, using his helmet to try to blunt the force of the blast.
Still, Dunham was critically wounded in the explosion and died eight days later at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
"As long as we have Marines like Corporal Dunham, America will never fear for her liberty," Bush said Friday as he announced that Dunham would receive the award. Bush spoke at the dedication of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia.
"His was a selfless act of courage to save his fellow Marines," Sgt. Maj. Daniel A. Huff of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, was quoted as saying in Marine Corps News that April.
"He knew what he was doing," Lance Cpl. Jason A. Sanders, 21, of McAllester, Oklahoma, who was in Dunham's company, was quoted as saying by Marine Corps News. "He wanted to save Marines' lives from that grenade."
In various media accounts, fellow Marines told how Dunham had extended his enlistment shortly before he died so he could help his comrades.
"We told him he was crazy for coming out here," Lance Cpl. Mark E. Dean, 22, from Owasso, Oklahoma, said in Marine Corps News. "He decided to come out here and fight with us. All he wanted was to make sure his boys made it back home."
"He loved his country, believed in his mission, and wanted to stay with his fellow Marines and see the job through," Vice President Dick Cheney said when speaking of Dunham's heroism at a Disabled American Veterans conference in July 2004.
The Scio, New York, native would have been 25 years old on Friday.
We are blessed with people who defend us even if we here at home all too often fail to watch their backs.
Support the Troops, War | Gaius Friday, 10 November , 2006
By Pamela in Fresno, CA, Saturday, 11 November , 2006 @ 2:15 am
I remember reading about Jason’s act of heroism shortly after it took place. All the guys were bummed because Jason knew exactly what he was doing. We are so bless that men such as he exist in the world. Men who so unselfishly give of themselves, laying their lives down for their brothers–Jason just wanted to see them get home safely.
The good news is that Jason is home. There’s an old Eskimo legend that there are no stars in the sky. There are simply holes in heaven where the light of those we love shines upon us reminding us how much they care.
Thank you for being of service Jason. Semper Fi and God’s Speed. May your family continue to find the courage to face each day without you here until you meet again.