It’s well known that a Marine remains faithful to the mission at hand, to each other, to the Corps and to country, no matter what. Everyone likes the Marines because they unapologetically kill bad people, right? And of course, we are blessed to “sleep soundly in our beds each night because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm”…

They’re complete Badasses.

Well, we at Victory Girls would like to give a big Semper Fi and “Happy 238th Birthday” to our magnificent United States Marine Corps, America’s 911 Force and the “first to fight!” To honor the USMC on their birthday, we remember one of their own – Corporal Jason Dunham – a fearless warrior, an American son.

 

Maybe you’re very familiar with Jason Dunham – I know his story is one I will never forget. His great valor and ultimate sacrifice earned him the Medal of Honor – posthumously. Corporal Jason Dunham, only 22 years old, dived on a live grenade to shield his troops during an ambush near Husaybah, Iraq; dying from his wounds 8 days later. As then President George W. Bush said in the MOH ceremony:

“On a dusty road in western Iraq, Corporal Dunham gave his own life so that the men under his command might live.”

Here is the Medal of Honor citation presented to Jason Dunham’s parents during a ceremony at the White House on January 11, 2007:

Washington: The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to

CORPORAL
JASON L. DUNHAM
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

For service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of this life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as 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 several 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, and 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.

Corporal Jason Dunham who shares a birthday today with the USMC, and has an Aegis Guided Missile Destroyer named after him, gave his all to defend the values we Americans hold dear. He would have been 32 today.

So Semper Fi USMC and Corporal Dunham!   I lift my glass:

“Here’s health to you
and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we’ve fought for life
And never lost our nerve.
… If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven’s scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.”

_____

Great Weekend Blog Reading Links!

Teach at Pirate’s Cove is blogging about “NOAA Provides Visuals Of Climate Doooooom!” 🙂

The Other McCain has many good blog posts up including this one by Stacy on “Andrew Breitbart Was Right: @MaxBlumenthal Is Despicable”. Well, yeah.

Phineas at Sister Toldjah has up this post on “Perspective: Building the #Obamacare web site vs winning WWII”.

Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has up a post today on “Breaking: France refuses to allow Obama to sell out to Iran on nuke talks”. France. Think about that.

Jeff at Gay Patriot has up this great blog post called “Obama, being insincere”.

Glenn Reynolds or Instapundit has many great posts at his blog hub from all over the blogosphere so go check them out! And you can watch Glenn’s latest interview with Virginia Postrel about her new book, “The Power of Glamour”, here.

Ginger at NakedDC has a blog post up on “Rand Paul Moves to Breitbart News”.

Dana at The First Street Journal has up a great post called “Rule 5 Blogging: Fort Jackson”. 🙂

Uncle Jimbo over at Blackfive has up this great feel-good post called “A dead tango truly worth dancing about”. 😉

Max at MaxRedline has up this post on the latest US Navy carrier called “Farewell To Steam”.

Jammie at Jammie Wearing Fools has up this post “Video: Ted Cruz Appears on Tonight Show With Jay Leno”. Love Ted Cruz!

Jonn at This Ain’t Hell has this post up called “Cruise: being an actor is just like serving in Afghanistan”. 🙂

As always, Michelle Obama’s Mirror has up a fun blog post called “Fairy Tales Can Come True, That’s the Bad News”.

Three Sure Things of Life has up a really great post called “5″. Go read it.

Donald Douglas at American Power has up this blog post on the super typhoon in the Philippines “Philippine Leader Fears ‘Substantially’ Higher Death Toll”.

Soopermexican has up this great post “Must Watch: White Guy Pretends To Be Black Guy And Wins Election In Predominantly Black District”.

Evil Blogger Lady has up this post on “Where in the world is Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova?” Excellent question.

Erika Johnsen has this post up at Hot Air “Oh, good: Maryland delaying their small-business exchange until April”.

and finally, Andy at AoSHQ has up this post on “New Shoe Dropping: “Doc Shock”. Read the comments. 🙂

Have a terrific weekend and make sure to say “Thank You!” to our veterans.