Corporal Jason Lee Dunham

Jason Dunham was a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps. He was born November 10, 1981 in Scio New York. In 2000 he joined the Marine Corps as a Security Force Sentry and served at the Naval Submarine Base known as Kings Bay in Georgia until 2003. In 2004 he served in the Iraq War as a squad leader stationed in Al-Karābilah, where his actions were taken that awarded him the Medal of Honor.

Dunham and his squad searched many cars for weapons on a daily basis. One day, the squad came upon a white Toyota Land Cruiser and found that it had guns in it; the driver attacked the Marines as he attempted to run. Dunham responded by chasing the man for hand-to-hand combat. During the fighting, the individual dropped a live hand grenade. To save his squad Dunham purposely jumped on the grenade, attempting to use his helmet to protect him and the others from the explosion. Dunham, the enemy fighter, and two other Marines nearby were all knocked out by the blast, but the enemy fighter got up and was killed in his attempt to run away.

Corporal Dunham was wounded very badly, and immediately evacuated. He arrived days later at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland in a coma, where he was being treated for his injuries. His recovery seemed unlikely. Eight days later he was taken off life support. On April 22, 2004 he died at the age of 22.

Corporal Dunham is a Hero to me because as a future Marine he is very inspirational. He sacrificed his life to save his fellow marines, and friends. He was a squad leader and it is obviously seen that above all things he put his squad and the lives of others before his own. Not only was he a great Marine but a great human being in general.