MiamiCubano
El Martillo (My Boxing Name)
Looks like this story was released in the last 30 days, but it just now wound up in my USMC mailbox. So, thought I'd share it with my brothers here... :thumbs: Semper Fi brothers.
Navy Ship to be named after Southern Tier Marine
3/23/07
By Jennifer Johnson
When Jason Dunham was in high school, he was a sports star and still holds a baseball record at Scio Central School. People spoke highly of his accomplishments. Friday the person praising Jason, inside the same high school gymnasium where he played so many games, was Secretary of the US Navy, Donald Winters. He said, "As everyone here knows the Jason Dunham who passed through these hallways less than a decade ago was a very special person."
He matured into a very special Marine. "He went on to become of the most courageous, heroic and admired marines this country has ever known," Winters said. April 14, 2004 Corporal Jason Dunham was in Iraq. When another Marine convey was ambushed near Husaybah, Corporal Dunham led his squad in to help. That's when an insurgent grabbed Dunham by the throat, they fought hand to hand combat, and as the insurgent rolled out a grenade, Dunham shouted a warning to his fellow marines as he threw his own body onto the grenade. He saved two lives that day, but lost his own eight days later. General Joseph Dunford, Director of Operations for the Marines says, "I clearly remember April 14, 2004." He says word of Corporal Dunham's death spread quickly to the 20,000 Sailors and Marines spread across Anbar province. "His fellow Marines knew right away that we had been privileged to serve with someone very special."
In January, Corporal Dunham was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the honest military honor. Friday Secretary Winters announced the next guided missile destroyer will be named the USS Jason Dunham. Winters said, "Indeed there is no higher honor in the Navy than to have a ship named after you."
General Dunford said, "Destroyers are the ships that have historically provided fire support for Marines when they come from the sea and for years to come the USS Jason Dunham will watch over Marines in harms way... When Marines look over their shoulder to see, what they are going to see is the USS Dunham on station and they will be comforted to know the story of Jason Dunham from Scio Central."
After the naming ceremony, Jason's parents said how they wish he were here to accept the honor. "The fact that they're naming a ship after him places him at a historical level that is above and beyond something that we ever thought we would comprehend when we were telling him he couldn't go outside and shoot baskets at dawn," said his mother Deb Dunham. Mrs. Dunham has been asked to christen the ship in 2010.
Of the Navy's 49 destroyers, six are named after World War II and Vietnam-era Marines who received the Medal of Honor, Winters said. Dunham is the first serviceman from his generation to receive the honor.
Navy Ship to be named after Southern Tier Marine
3/23/07
By Jennifer Johnson
When Jason Dunham was in high school, he was a sports star and still holds a baseball record at Scio Central School. People spoke highly of his accomplishments. Friday the person praising Jason, inside the same high school gymnasium where he played so many games, was Secretary of the US Navy, Donald Winters. He said, "As everyone here knows the Jason Dunham who passed through these hallways less than a decade ago was a very special person."
He matured into a very special Marine. "He went on to become of the most courageous, heroic and admired marines this country has ever known," Winters said. April 14, 2004 Corporal Jason Dunham was in Iraq. When another Marine convey was ambushed near Husaybah, Corporal Dunham led his squad in to help. That's when an insurgent grabbed Dunham by the throat, they fought hand to hand combat, and as the insurgent rolled out a grenade, Dunham shouted a warning to his fellow marines as he threw his own body onto the grenade. He saved two lives that day, but lost his own eight days later. General Joseph Dunford, Director of Operations for the Marines says, "I clearly remember April 14, 2004." He says word of Corporal Dunham's death spread quickly to the 20,000 Sailors and Marines spread across Anbar province. "His fellow Marines knew right away that we had been privileged to serve with someone very special."
In January, Corporal Dunham was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the honest military honor. Friday Secretary Winters announced the next guided missile destroyer will be named the USS Jason Dunham. Winters said, "Indeed there is no higher honor in the Navy than to have a ship named after you."
General Dunford said, "Destroyers are the ships that have historically provided fire support for Marines when they come from the sea and for years to come the USS Jason Dunham will watch over Marines in harms way... When Marines look over their shoulder to see, what they are going to see is the USS Dunham on station and they will be comforted to know the story of Jason Dunham from Scio Central."
After the naming ceremony, Jason's parents said how they wish he were here to accept the honor. "The fact that they're naming a ship after him places him at a historical level that is above and beyond something that we ever thought we would comprehend when we were telling him he couldn't go outside and shoot baskets at dawn," said his mother Deb Dunham. Mrs. Dunham has been asked to christen the ship in 2010.
Of the Navy's 49 destroyers, six are named after World War II and Vietnam-era Marines who received the Medal of Honor, Winters said. Dunham is the first serviceman from his generation to receive the honor.
