Soldier whose photo touched many dies in N.C.

[a kennedy]

By Kelly Kennedy Army Times

During the first week of the war in Iraq in 2003, a Military Times photographer captured the image of Army Pfc. Joseph Patrick Dwyer as he raced through a battle zone clutching a tiny Iraqi boy named Ali.

"Doc" Dwyer's concerned face appeared on the pages of newspapers across the country. Dwyer, 31, died June 28 in Pinehurst, N.C., after years of struggling with mental disorders. During that time, he spiraled into substance abuse and depression, and he found himself in trouble with the law.

"Of course he was looked on as a hero here," said Capt. Floyd Thomas of the Pinehurst Police. Still, "we've been dealing with him for over a year."

The day he died, Dwyer called a taxi company for a ride to the hospital, Thomas said. When the driver arrived, "they had a conversation through the door (of Dwyer's home)," Thomas said, but Dwyer would not let the driver in. The driver asked Dwyer if he should call the police. Dwyer said yes. When the police arrived, they asked him if they should break down the door. He again said yes. Thomas told TheFayetteville (N.C.) Observer that bottles of prescription medicine were found near Dwyer.

Dwyer served with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment as the unit headed into Baghdad at the beginning of the war. Only four of the 21 days in which the regiment pushed forward lacked gunfire, he later told Newsday. The day before Warren Zinn snapped his photo for Military Times, Dwyer's Humvee had been hit by a rocket.

Full article here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-07-08-iraq_N.htm

[Botany]

1. One more death in Dick Cheney's war for oil & profit

Will anybody be held guilty for lying us into this mess?

[charlie]

2. Another sad twist to his story

He went to Iraq in place of another soldier who was scheduled to go.

Former Fort Bliss Spc. Joseph Dwyer, who died of an overdose late last month and whose photograph of him carrying a wounded Iraqi boy to safety became a symbol of compassion in the U.S. Army, volunteered to go to Iraq in place of a friend, his associates and friends said Monday.

"When Joseph went to Iraq, it was supposed to have been me," said Dionne Knapp, a former Army medic who served with Dwyer at Fort Bliss. "It just really hurts me now because it could have been me. He literally gave his life not only for his county, but for a friend. I'm here with my son and daughter because of him."

Dwyer, a then newlywed, volunteered to take Knapp's spot because she was a single mother of two. About five weeks before the war started, Knapp, a senior medic with the 6th Brigade, trained Dwyer for his tour overseas.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_9812479

[a kennedy]

3. This is just so sad......

[rox63]

4. And of course, he will never be officially counted by the govt among the "war dead"

Because he died of wounds they couldn't (or wouldn't) see, after he came home from the war.

So sad... :cry:

[Buzz Clik]

5. It all gets back to what "support the troops" really means.

[TwilightGardener]

6. Heartbreaking--but he's as much a hero as someone who

was injured or died on the battlefield. His injuries just took longer to kill him.

[leftynyc]

7. May he rest in peace (n/t)

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Poor man. Poor family and friends left behind. :^(