Well I'll be damned... I had no idea about the heroics of Jason Dunham until I read this post.
I first saw Jason Dunham's name written on a barracks passage door in Al Qa'im, Al Anbar Province, Iraq. It's a train station... and one of the many buildings in the complex housed US Marines.
The particular door I speak of had a tribute drawn on it and Jason's fellow Marines had written superlative comments about, and to Jason. Crossed sabers adorned the top of the face of the door, and various squad/platoon members had signed personal epitaphs to Jason using black marker (likely a Sharpie.)
We took the door down to our work area (carpenter shop) due to ongoing renovations in the barracks, and there it sat... (last I seen of it.) A RIP was underway (relief in place) and the barracks had been jammed full of US Marines (previously.) Our task was to prepare the bldg. for new occupants.
Due to a previously housed US Marine contracting a form of menningitis, the bldg.was undergoing sanitization and renovation. That's how the door fell into our hands. We were cannibalizing many of the doors for their respective hardware, and in some instances, often reusing the doors that were servicable or repairable elsewhere.
Based on what the door's poignant story told, I felt that the door should somehow find it's way back to the USA and into the hands of the USMC unit that Jason belonged to.
FWIW, I was employed with KBR as a carpenter in Iraq, from April to September, 2006. A dear friend of mine back in the USA, came down with leukemia, prompting me to redeploy to PHX, AZ, to assist him in his fight for his life. Prior to working in Iraq, I worked as a carpenter and performed QC duties at a concrete batch plant (with KBR,) for 15 months in Kandahar, Afghanistan, (May04-Aug05.)
I'll be contacting my former supervisor to see about getting the door stateside, providing it is still intact and in the possession of the carpenter shop in Al Qa'im. I'm guessing that either the family of Jason or his parent Marine unit should be the caretaker of the door.
FYI, The 1st MAR DIV, 1st BTN, 7th REG, was the command unit at Al Qa'im when I called the place home. They had replaced Jason's unit prior to my arrival.
Ping
It appears you have a calling.....I pray for your friend....get that door back where it belongs :) What a story!
Excellent! Ping to this thread and also post #23!!
Awesome!!
Thanks for the ping, Star!
Our heroes all!
Sorry to reply so late. Here is the story about the door.