[wingnutx]

Lance Cpl. Dean told those assembled about a trip to Las Vegas the two men and Becky Jo Dean had taken in January, not long before the battalion left for the Persian Gulf. Chatting in a hotel room, the corporal told his friends he was planning to extend his enlistment and stay in Iraq for the battalion's entire tour. "You're crazy for extending," Lance Cpl. Dean recalls saying. "Why?"

He says Cpl. Dunham responded: "I want to make sure everyone makes it home alive. I want to be sure you go home to your wife alive."

Mission accomplished, Corporal Dunham. Semper Fidelis.

[wingnutx]

ping.

[Coop]

What a heroic story. Rest in peace, Cpl. Dunham.

[SVTCobra03]

Where do they find such men and why is my screen suddenly so blurry?

[aShepard]

Deeply emotionally draining!

[DesertSapper]

A real man!

At 22, Corporal Dunham has joined the ranks of an elite few - true heroes.

God bless his family.

Semper Fi.

[4CJ]

Rest in peace, Cpl. Jason Dunham. May God bless your family, and help us to understand such acts of unselfish courage.

[ChristianJim]

I read your post with a lump in my throat. I saddens me when we lose good men like Cpl. Dunham. Prayers for those he left behind.

[responder]

What if we had men like this in our congress to lead this country instead of dregs of society?

[Age of Reason]

There was an old movie about WWI, wherein the character played by James Cagney, shielded his comrades from a grenade in exactly the same way: by placing his helmet over it and lying atop it.

I think the movie was called the Fighting 69th.

[alpha-8-25-02]

GODSPEED MARINE
SEMPER FI

[border bud]

Thank you for the post. Deeply moving.

[GladesGuru]

How anybody could even consider voting for such as Kerry (or the HilaBeast) to be Commander-in-Chief of men such as this hero is beyond my comprehension.

[RaceBannon]

[mfulstone]

Looks like God needs the best to stand guard duty now. I hope I am assigned to Corporal Dunham's outfit when the time comes for me to get my orders.

And I wonder if these tears will ever dry...

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

I wonder if Dan Rather will have this story on the nightly news.

[dcwusmc]

Thanks for this post. He was a hero in the real sense of the word.

Neil... PINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

[commish]

Semper Fi Marine. Keep em straight in Heaven, we'll do the same on earth.

[duckbutt]

Oh - - I read this yesterday and was crying my eyes out. I turned the page in the Journal and saw the picture of the soldier kissing the helmet that was mounted on the rifle. I started sobbing - - in Silver Diner! (local restaurant)

Man - - where do we get men like this???

[anymouse]

Marine Taps ping.

[Torie]

Here is what another one of my heroes wrote in a letter to the WSJ, whose reaction was exactly the same as mine:

"I'm sorry. I've been crying. And I can't stop.

"After reading your article about Mr. Grasso's compensation (legal or not), his blistering op-ed response, and your editorial -- and whatever all that petty bickering suggests about sums so enormous that few Americans can even imagine them -- I read Mr. Phillips's moving story about Cpl. Dunham's selfless heroism. I lingered on his every word, every moment, every explosion, every turn for the worse, every hope for survival. Then the devastating news: "At 4:43 p.m. on April 22, 2004, Marine Cpl. Jason L. Dunham died."

"Look, I'm just a businessman. And a Republican, too. But I hope and pray that all of us who have basked in the glorious financial excesses of modern-day managers' capitalism will take a brief timeout from all of our getting and our self-important lives, get down on our knees and say a prayer for those who have given -- sadly, on our behalf -- what Lincoln called "the last full measure of devotion." "Maybe then my tears will dry. But I hope not."

John C. Bogle
Valley Forge, Pa.
(Mr. Bogle is founder and former CEO of The Vanguard Group.)