A former history professor, Tom Miller
is a novelist and essayist. His most recent
novel is Full
Court Press (2000). His reviews
and essays have appeared in numerous books,
journals, and newspapers, including The
Encyclopedia of Southern History, American
History Illustrated, the Chicago
Tribune, and the Des Moines Register.
He also is a former Army officer and Vietnam
veteran.
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The Gift of Valor is the extraordinary story of an ordinary young American, Marine Corporal Jason Dunham, who was mortally wounded shielding his fellow Marines from a grenade. Jason Dunham grew up in a working-class family in a small town in upstate New York. An indifferent student but an outstanding athlete, Dunham joined the Marine Corps right out of high school. The Marines fit him well, and he rose to the rank of Corporal by the time his unit -- 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment -- was alerted for deployment to Iraq in late 2003. Jason quietly extended his enlistment so that he could remain with the unit throughout its deployment.
Jason's unit (Kilo Co., 3/7) was stationed in the Sunni-dominated town of Husaybah near the Syrian border. On April 14, 2004, elements of Kilo Co. were targeted in three separate attacks, and nine Marines were wounded. A patrol led by Corporal Dunham was one of the elements attacked. When Dunham and two other Marines approached a suspicious Land Cruiser, an Iraqi jumped out and attacked the corporal. As the Marines struggled with the assailant, Dunham suddenly shouted a warning and fell on a grenade. All three Marines were wounded and evacuated, but only Dunham's wounds were life-threatening. When Dunham's superiors discovered exactly what had happened that day, they recommended him for the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor.
Dunham was evacuated to a Naval field hospital where he was classified as "expectant" -- not expected to survive -- because of the severity of his head wounds. When he did, he became "The Miracle Marine" and was moved to the Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad where neurosurgeons operated. From there, he was flown to Germany and later to the Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md. The specialists at Bethesda, however, concluded that Jason had suffered too much brain damage to ever recover, and his parents reluctantly accepted their recommendation to remove Jason from life support. Jason Dunham died on April 22, 2004, eight days after being wounded.
There are lots of heroes in Wall Street Journal reporter Phillips' heart-wrenching story: Jason Dunham, of course, is the most obvious. They also include the doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly to save Jason's life (and the life of an Iraqi EPW also grievously wounded that day); the "friends, neighbors, and strangers" in Scio, NY, Jason's hometown, who raised $8,000 to help his parents with travel expenses; Command Master Chief Jim Piner and his wife Sarah who live near Bethesda and open their home to the families of the wounded, drive them to Wal-mart or Target, and host barbeques out of their own pocket; Marine Corps Commandant General Michael Hagee who skipped a Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting to pin on Jason's Purple Heart before he died; and the 1500 who attended Jason's funeral in tiny Scio, pop. 1900. The heroes also include Jason's family -- especially his parents -- who know the meaning of "sacrifice" better than most.
Phillips' book has gotten some indifferent reviews -- likely because he treats his subjects with compassion and refuses to allow other issues to overshadow Jason's story. The anonymous reviewer in Publishers Weekly calls it a "distended tearjerker" and an "idealized portrait" that is "drenched in maudlin pathos" and "extraneous factoids" and "too embedded in the Marine ethos of gung-ho sentimentality."
Phillips has done four tours in Iraq for the Wall Street Journal and bases his account on his own reporting as well as extensive interviews with those involved in Jason Dunham's story. And, yes, he'll make you cry if you have a heart. But don't blame Phillips for idealizing Dunham. How can you idealize a young man who threw his body on a live grenade to save his companions? As for the nature of the Marine ethos, the Marines have nothing to apologize for. Neither does Michael Phillips who has honored Jason Dunham by telling his story honestly.
