The Gift of Valor: A War Story
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
The Gift of Valor: A War Story
By (Author) Michael M. Phillips
Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc)
Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc)
15th August 2006
United States
Classifications
General
Fiction
B
Winner of New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age 2006
Physical Properties
Paperback
256
Width 132mm, Height 203mm, Spine 13mm
202g
Description
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.
Reviews
One of the first great books to be spawned by the war in Iraq . . . Phillips has captured the fear, bravery and confusion of the war. Tucson Citizen
Affecting . . . moving. New York Times Book Review
The story of extraordinary valor on the part of a brave marine.
H. Norman Schwarzkopf, General, U.S. Army, Retired
Stands head and shoulders above previous Iraq books.
Proceedings, U.S. Naval Institute
Author Bio
MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS, a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has done four tours in Iraq with the Third Battalion, Seventh Marines. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two children.
