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thedrifter
07-15-06, 07:14 AM
July 14, 2006

Leatherneck praised for courage after assault

By Gidget Fuentes
Staff writer


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — As her three-star boss looked on, a Marine lieutenant was recognized by the San Diego County district attorney for her courage in pressing for justice after she was sexually assaulted.

During a July 7 ceremony outside I Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis presented a plaque honoring 1st Lt. Claire Wilkinson as a “Citizen of Courage.”


Dumanis, a former judge, praised the lieutenant for fighting her case, which her office prosecuted. “I know that other women in the military consider you a hero,” she said.

While the district attorney’s office presented its annual awards during an April banquet in San Diego, Wilkinson was deployed to Iraq and was unable to attend. So Dumanis, with MEF support, gave her the award in this month’s ceremony, along with seven other certificates and commendations, including a letter from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that hailed her “resilience and resolve in the face of crime,” as one commendation noted.

Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the MEF commander, spoke before the gathered crowd of about 50.

“This is a mentally and physically tough Marine,” said Sattler, adding that Wilkinson exemplified the Corps’ values of honor, courage and commitment in her pursuit of prosecuting her assailant.

Honor, he said, “is doing what’s right, regardless whether you’re being watched or not.”

Turning to her, Sattler added, “You did the right thing. You had the courage to [press for] something that might have become a backlash, possibly.”

The accolades touched Wilkinson, who agreed to go public in the hopes of bringing the issue of sexual assault and education to the front.

“It was a fight, really, every day to move forward,” she said after the ceremony. “It was pretty difficult to come forward and to get this award in front of Marines. You know, there’s not a lot of crying in the Marine Corps.”

Wilkinson also developed a plan to improve the process. She’s been crafting a point paper she hopes will help commanders better respond to sensitive situations such as sexual assault allegations.

A San Diego judge in December issued a three-year prison sentence to Wilkinson’s assailant, Capt. Douglas Dowson, who agreed to plead guilty to one count of sodomy in the sexual assault, which happened at a downtown San Diego hotel in November. The Marine Corps declined to prosecute, but the district attorney’s office took on the case, joined by an NCIS investigator. Dowson, an F/A-18 Hornet weapons sensors officer, was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Ellie