Worth a mention
Yesterday at the White House, President Bush awarded the Medal of Honor to Marine Corporal Jason Dunham posthumously. It amazes me that the media is so focused on that fat pig Rosie O’Donnell’s feud with Donald Trump that the story got barely a mention.
In the spring of 2004 CPL Dunham and his marine brothers were on a patrol in Iraq when they stopped a suspicious Iraqi in a pickup truck. As CPL Dunham went to remove the Iraqi from the vehicle the Iraqi attacked him while simultaneously dropping a live hand grenade. With his buddies nearby (within the effective range of the grenade) CPL Dunham kneed the Iraqi in the chest to get him to release the grip around his throat. Then in an unbelievable act of bravery and heroism, CPL Dunham quickly removed his Kevlar helmet, covered the grenade with it and laid on top of it as it exploded. CPL Dunham selflessly saved the lives of several of his brothers. The Iraqi also lived and got up and began to run away from the scene. One of CPL Dunham’s marine brothers then opened fire on the Iraqi and fired 25 rounds at him as he ran and rightfully killed him and let him lay there in the street like the savage he was. A subsequent search found arms and additional grenades in the pickup truck. CPL Dunham survived for several days. He was medevaced to Baghdad, then to Landstuhl, Germany and then on to Bethesda Medical Center in Washington D.C. His parents met him there but never got to say goodbye because CPL Dunham was unconscious the whole time and on life support because his brain was so swollen that he lost the ability to breathe on his own. He had asked his parents to pull the plug should anything ever happen to him and not let him have to live on life support. They did.
Why did a story like this barely get a mention in the media? Why is a hero like this not praised and celebrated more? Why is every story about Iraq a negative one while nobody mentions all of the heroic things these men and women are doing or all of the good they’re bringing to this country?
It makes me even angrier when I hear people like John Kerry, that worthless waste of oxygen go on about the military and how bad it is. Well you know what? There was more purpose, drive, selflessness, heroism, worth, valor and honor in CPL Dunham’s pinky than most people will ever witness in a lifetime. People like Kerry do not even deserve to be mentioned in the same context as this heroic young marine.
Well done CPL Dunham. I hope you’re in a better place now. We’re proud of you and I thank you for your service. Bless your family and loved ones. Although nothing can replace their loss, I hope they find solace and pride in your deeds and can live on through those you saved. You are a hero. Semper Fi.
posted by P-Nut @ 11:01 AM
3 Comments:
What an amazing story. Very sad. What kills me is I watch the news every day and read the paper and never heard about this. Your right, that man was a hero.
I have a question and I know this may sound stupid but I know absolutely nothing about grenades. Why didn't CPL Dunham pick up the grenade and throw it away from them?? My thought would be that there would be the fear it would explode in his hand but I really don't know.
Grenades are notoriously unpredictable. That's why it's so dangerous to cook them off (pull the pin and wait a few seconds before throwing it so the enemy cannot throw it back at you) when we use them. You usually have between 3-5 seconds before they detonate once you release the spoon. Sometimes they take longer and sometimes even less than 3 seconds. CPL Dunham probably had no way of knowing how long the spoon had been released or the grenade was a few feet away from him and it was quicker to remove his kevlar while moving towards it than it would be to run over and pick it up and throw it. Plus if he picked it up and it went off before he could throw it, it could still have killed him along with his buddies. You know what makes the story even sadder? CPL Dunham's time in the Marines was up early on in his tour in Iraq but he volunteered and signed up to stay until the end of his Iraq deployment to, in the words of one of his friends, "make sure you get home to your wife".
That is so sad..... but I feel lucky.
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