[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E41]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SEMPER FIDELIS, A TRIBUTE TO CORPORAL JASON L. DUNHAM, UNITED STATES 
                              MARINE CORPS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN R. KUHL, JR.

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 9, 2007

  Mr. KUHL of New York. Madam Speaker, it is with honor and pleasure 
that I rise to recognize Corporal Jason L. Dunham, United States Marine 
Corps. Corporal Dunham will posthumously receive our Nation's highest 
award for valor on January 11, 2007 from our 43rd President, George W. 
Bush.
  Corporal Dunham grew up in Scio, New York. He was known for his 
prowess in baseball, basketball, and soccer at Scio Central School. He 
was also well-known throughout his entire community, not just for his 
good-natured pranks, but for being a young man of enthusiastic yet 
humble spirit, someone who genuinely cared for others and who could 
always be counted on if someone was in need. He enlisted in the Marine 
Corps in July 2000, because the Marines were known to have the toughest 
training, but also the strongest brotherhood. He also felt a personal 
challenge to complete basic training and to do it well.
  Following his first duty assignment with Marine Corps Security Forces 
in Kings Bay, Georgia, Corporal Dunham was assigned to Fourth Platoon, 
Kilo Company, Third Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 7, First Marine 
Division. Having quickly proven himself as a capable and conscientious 
leader, Corporal Dunham was assigned as a Squad Leader and entrusted 
with the training, welfare, and lives of nine American Sons. He soon 
earned a reputation for his unwavering commitment to his fellow 
Marines. He had a caring, respectful, and humane style of leadership 
and believed above all in leadership by example.
  On 14 April 2004, while conducting a reconnaissance mission in the 
town of Karabilah in Al Anbar province, Corporal Dunham and his men 
heard rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire erupt two kilometers 
to the west. Their Battalion Commander's patrol had been ambushed while 
enroute to visit Lima Company at Camp Husaybah, right on the Syrian 
border. Realizing that his unit was in a position to assist, Corporal 
Dunham ordered the vehicles of his Combined Anti-Armor Team to link up 
with his dismounted squad and advance toward the engagement to provide 
reinforcement. Upon reaching the site of the ambush, they were quickly 
barraged with enemy fire. Corporal Dunham ordered the vehicles 
dismounted and led one of his fireteams into the village to neutralize 
the ambush. After having moved several blocks south into the village, 
they discovered seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart 
to the east. Corporal Dunham ordered his Marines to block their 
movement and check the vehicles for insurgents. As he approached the 
second vehicle in the column, an insurgent leaped out and attacked 
Corporal Dunham. In the ensuing hand-to-hand struggle, Corporal Dunham 
wrestled the Iraqi insurgent to the ground and immediately noticed that 
the insurgent was holding a live grenade. Corporal Dunham alerted his 
fellow Marines, and aware of the imminent danger but without 
hesitation, he removed his helmet and covered the grenade, absorbing 
the brunt of the explosion and shielding his fellow Marines from the 
blast in a selfless act of bravery that most certainly saved the lives 
of two of his Marines.
  By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and unwavering 
devotion to duty in the face of certain death, Corporal Dunham 
gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great 
credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine 
Corps and the United States Naval Service. Corporal Jason L. Dunham 
epitomizes the selfless devotion to duty that our young men and women 
have displayed time and time again in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and 
numerous other places around the world. Our Nation is blessed to have a 
military full of Corporal Dunhams who are serving with great 
distinction. My heart goes out to his family, the townspeople of Scio, 
NY, and the Marines, for they have lost one of America's finest.

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