PDA

View Full Version : Navy Ship to be named after Southern Tier Marine



thedrifter
03-24-07, 07:57 AM
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.


Corporal Dunham's story is also chronicled in the book "Gift of Valor" by Michael M. Phillips.

Ellie

thedrifter
03-25-07, 08:42 AM
Navy Names New Guided-Missile Destroyer USS Jason Dunham
By U.S. Department of Defense
Mar 24, 2007 - 5:20:44 PM

Blackanthem Military News, WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Navy announced today that the Navy's newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer will be named the USS Jason Dunham, honoring Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, the first Marine awarded the Medal of Honor for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter, made the announcement in Dunham's hometown of Scio, N.Y. "Jason Dunham, the friendly, kind-hearted, gifted athlete who followed his star in the United States Marine Corps, went on to become one of the most courageous, heroic and admired Marines this great country has ever known," said Winter. "His name will be forever associated with DDG 109. May those who serve in her always be inspired by the heroic deeds of Jason Dunham, and may all of us strive to be worthy of his sacrifice."

Dunham was born in Scio, Nov. 10, 1981, sharing the same birthday as the U.S. Marine Corps. After high school graduation, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in July 2000 and completed recruit training 13 weeks later at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, S.C.

Following his first duty assignment with Marine Corps Security Forces, Kings Bay, Ga., Dunham transferred to the infantry and was later assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, based in Twentynine Palms, Calif. Before deploying to Iraq in spring 2004, Dunham was selected to lead a rifle squad, a position that ultimately placed him on the front line in the war against the Iraqi insurgency.

On April 14, 2004, Dunham's squad was conducting a reconnaissance mission in Karabilah, Iraq, when his battalion commander's convoy was ambushed. When Dunham's squad approached to provide fire support, an Iraqi insurgent leapt out of a vehicle and attacked Dunham.

As Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground, he noticed that the enemy fighter had a grenade in his hand. He immediately alerted his fellow Marines, and when the enemy dropped the live grenade, Dunham took off his Kevlar helmet, covered the grenade, and threw himself on top to smother the blast. In an ultimate selfless act of courage, in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of two fellow Marines.

In November 2006 at the dedication of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia, President George W. Bush announced that the Medal of Honor would be awarded posthumously to Dunham.

During his speech, President Bush said, "As long as we have Marines like Corpoal Dunham, America will never fear for her liberty." President Bush presented Dunham's family with the Medal of Honor during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 11, 2007.

In the spirit of this Marine, the USS Jason Dunham will continue protecting America's liberty by providing a multi-mission maritime platform to lead the Navy into the future.

Utilizing a gas turbine propulsion system, the ship can operate independently or as part of carrier strike groups, surface action groups, amphibious ready groups, and underway replenishment groups. The ship's combat systems center on the Aegis combat system and the SPY-Ld (V) multifunction phased array radar.

With the combination of Aegis, the vertical launching system, an advanced anti-submarine warfare system, advanced anti-aircraft missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles, the Arleigh Burke-class continues the revolution at sea.