Cpl. Jason L. Dunham
22 years old from Scio, New York
Rifle Squad Leader, 4th Platoon, Company K, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines (Reinforced), Regimental Combat Team 7, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced)
April 22, 2004

For The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Corporal Jason L. Dunham, United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Rifle Squad Leader, 4th Platoon, Company K, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines (Reinforced), Regimental Combat Team 7, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), on 14 April 2004. Corporal Dunham’s squad was conducting a reconnaissance mission in the town of Karabilah, Iraq, when they heard rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire erupt approximately two kilometers to the west. Corporal Dunham led his Combined Anti-Armor Team towards the engagement to provide fire support to their Battalion Commander’s convoy, which had been ambushed as it was traveling to Camp Husaybah. As Corporal Dunham and his Marines advanced, they quickly began to receive enemy fire. Corporal Dunham ordered his squad to dismount their vehicles and led one of his fire teams on foot several blocks south of the ambushed convoy. Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade. Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. 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, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Sgt. Charlie McGowen
August 22, 1921 – December 5, 2009

1940-1945

In 1942 he was drafted into the Army Air Corps. He was sent to England. His trip there took him through Warrior, Alabama, Ft. McClellan, Ft. McPherson, Gulf Port, Mississippi, Chanute, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Alamorgoro, and New York City. Then he took the Queen Mary to the Fifth of Clyde in Scotland. Upon arriving he was sent to the Wending base in England. In his military service he was part of the World War II: 32 Bomb Group 578 and 579 Bomb Squadron Second Air Division, 8th Air Force, ETON 117 Wending, Norfolk, England. While stationed in Wending, he went to Piccadilly Circus in London. While he was there he visited the American Red Cross Center with friends. The center was Rainbow Corner. While there he was introduced to a lovely English lady named Margaret (Peggy) Johnston. It was love at first sight. They were married on January 13, 1945. They moved back to Alabama after the war and raised six children. They have ten grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Lance Cpl. Andrew Koenig

It is hard to know whether Monday was a very bad day or a very good day for Lance Cpl. Andrew Koenig.

On the one hand, he was shot in the head. On the other, the bullet bounced off him.

In one of those rare battlefield miracles, an insurgent sniper hit Lance Cpl. Koenig dead on in the front of his helmet, and he walked away from it with a smile on his face.

“I don’t think I could be any luckier than this,” Lance Cpl. Koenig said two hours after the shooting.

You can read the rest of Lance Cpl. Koenig’s story here.

Capt. Ferris W. Butler

Capt. Ferris W. Butler, former platoon leader with D Company, 214th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain, 2nd Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Drum, N.Y., talks to the Soldiers at Morale, Welfare and Recreation east Feb. 5 at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. Butler, a Port Tobacco, Mass., native, participated in Operation Proper Exit, which brings Veterans who were injured in Iraq back to the country to revisit the area and share their stories.

Marvin Glenn & His Wife, Christina

Marvin Glenn was born in Oklahoma, joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1939, and married his wife of over 60 years. Marvin enlisted in the Navy in 1944, becoming a member of the Greatest Generation. He chose to serve, despite being exempt due to a heart murmur. He went on to serve on the Escort Carrier USS Copahee. After his discharge Marvin became a brick layer, a job he continued to perform until he was 82 despite only having one eye. Along with being a brick layer, Marvin maintained a garden which he and his wife used to provide for themselves, and those in need. The life Marvin lived, in service to others, inspired his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and anyone who came to know him. Marvin was laid to rest in Henryetta, Oklahoma on January 16, 2010, at the age of 92, with full military honors.

Airmen from the Kentucky National Guard’s 123rd Contingency Response Group help to offload wounded Haitian refugees and medics from Puerto Rico National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters at the air hub Jan. 25, 2010, in Barahona, Dominican Republic.

Specialist Brandon K. Steffy
23 years old from Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan
178th Military Police Detachment, 89th Military Police Brigade, III Corps
October 29, 2009

He came into to this world a rather large baby, so big the doctor thought that he’d just walk home with his mother. Brandon was well mannered, polite, and tough with a contagious laugh that lit up those around him. In 2005 he graduated from Brimley High School and in 2006 enlisted in the United States Army, following a tradition of family military service.

He served in Iraq as a gunner from May 2007 until July 2008 and was deployed to Afghanistan in June 2009 where he was a canine tracker handler for Forward operating Base Fenty Kennel in the Laghman Province. He and his K-9 dog Maci were inseparable, working on tracking terrorists; Maci specialized in tracking the scents of IED making materials.

Spc. Brandon Steffy was killed when the vehicle he was riding in was attacked. His decorations and awards include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal-Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Service, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Spc. Steffy is survived by his wife, daughter, parents and his sister.

Brandon made people laugh and he made them cry. There was not one dry eye at his funeral, from every day townsfolk, to big construction workers to police officers; they all recalled Brandon, this “Gentle Giant.” They want everyone to know that if you never knew Brandon, then you really missed out.

Stephen Cochran
2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force

Stephen Cochran had it all in front of him. Collage, a fiancée and an offer for a professional recording contract. But life had other plans for him. The day was September 11, 2001. “It was just so horrific,” Cochran said. “It’s like I’d been called. I’d never been pulled so hard to do something.”

It may have been the audacity of the attacks, but more likely it was his family’s long history of military service that drew him to enlist, he said. Both grandfathers served, as did an uncle and several other relatives.

So he dropped out of college, walked away from the record deal and joined the United States Marine Corps. “I’ve always been raised very, very patriotic. It’s just what I had to do.”

After serving in Iraq, he and his entire battalion volunteered to go to Afghanistan with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit where Cochran was injured in an ambush. 20 yards inside Kandahar, the vehicle he was riding in hit an anti-tank mine and he was thrown from the vehicle and broke the five vertebrae in his lower back.

Read The Rest Of The Story

Culinary Specialist 1st Class Tremayne Brown

Culinary Specialist 1st Class Tremayne Brown, from Tulsa, Okla., receives stores for the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56). John S. McCain is one of seven ships assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15 and is permanently forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan.

Cpl. Carlos E. Gil Orozco
23 years old from San Jose, California
2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force
September 10, 2007

Carlos Gil Orozco wasn’t a great student, but one goal pushed him to hit the books: becoming a Marine.

“He was kind of a troublemaker, you know, he got bad grades and wouldn’t do his homework,” said his sister, Myriam Johanna Gil Orozco. “But he wanted to be a Marine. So he studied real hard, especially algebra. He’d stay up all night studying.

Cpl. Orozco’s parents moved the family from Colombia to the U.S. when he was 8 years old, hoping to give their children a better education. They became frustrated when their son didn’t do well in school and thought the Marines would be good for him.

“My dad was actually happy,” Myriam said. “He’d rather have him be a Marine than out on the streets being in gangs or doing drugs.”

Cpl. Carlos Orozco was killed while conducting combat operations in Ashraf, Iraq when the tank he was riding in encountered an IED. Also killed in the blast was Lance Cpl. Jon T. Hicks Jr. of Atco, New Jersey.

Cpl. Orozco leaves behind his sister, his parents, his wife and two sons.