Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for engaging in hand-to-hand combat with an enemy fighter near Iraq’s Syrian border. Dunham deliberately threw himself on a hand grenade, dropped by an insurgent, and attempted to use his helmet to shield others from the explosion. He was killed during the attack in April 2004.
In Dunham’s Medal of Honor citation, Mr. Bush said, “In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines. By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty, Corporal Dunham gallantly gave his life for his country.”
Bush presented the award to Dunham’s family in January 2007 in a ceremony at the White House. Dunham was the first Marine to receive the award in the Iraq war, and it was the first earned for combat action since the Vietnam War.
