The Gift of Valor: A War Story
by By Phillips, Michael M.
Category: Biography & Autobiography , Military

The true story of US Marine Corporal Jason Dunham's brave act that saved fellow Marines and earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor. Corporal  Dunham was on patrol near the Syrian border, on April 14, 2004, when a black-clad  Iraqi leaped out of a car and grabbed him around his neck. Fighting hand-to-hand  in the dirt, Dunham saw his attacker drop a grenade and made the instantaneous decision  to place his own helmet over the explosive in the hope of containing the blast and  protecting his men. When the smoke cleared, Dunham’s helmet was in shreds, and the  corporal lay face down in his own blood. The Marines beside him were seriously wounded.  Dunham was subsequently nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’ s highest award for military valor. Phillips’s minute-by-minute chronicle of the  chaotic fighting that raged throughout the area and culminated in Dunham’s injury  provides a grunt’s-eye view of war as it’s being fought today—fear, confusion, bravery,  and suffering set against a brotherhood forged in combat. His account of Dunham’s  eight-day journey home and of his parents’ heartrending reunion with their son powerfully  illustrates the cold brutality of war and the fragile humanity of those who fight  it. Dunham leaves an indelible mark upon all who know his story, from the doctors  and nurses who treat him, to the readers of the original Wall Street Journal article  that told of his singular act of valor.