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A Marine posthumously receives the Medal of Honor for valor in Iraq:

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.

More from the Washington Post:

Dunham, a high school athlete from Scio, N.Y., would have been 25 years old Friday, the 231st birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps. Bush said Dunham was "born to be a Marine."

He said Dunham, 22 years old at the time, first threw his helmet onto the grenade then jumped on it himself "to protect his fellow Marines." He called Dunham "the toughest Marine, but the nicest guy."

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee presented Dunham with the Purple Heart at his bedside shortly before he died at Bethesda Naval Hospital with his parents at his side eight days after he was wounded in Iraq.

Of course Blackfive has a round-up.

Eternal gratitude for CPL Dunham's sacrifice and condolences to his family.

On the 231st birthday of the USMC, W. Thomas Smith Jr. offers perspective on Marine "magic":

Best-selling author Tom Clancy refers to the result of this formula as magic. "Marines are mystical," he once wrote. "They have magic ... [a magic that] may well frighten potential opponents more than the actual violence Marines can generate in combat."

Indeed, this magic has been working to America's benefit as a force multiplier in both peace and war for decades.

Posted by Bill at November 10, 2006 06:05 PM | TrackBack (1)

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