Iraq Vet Made Famous By Photo Dies Of Drug Overdose

[ProSense]

Iraq Vet Made Famous By Photo Dies Of Drug Overdose

By: Logan Murphy on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 6:45 PM - PDT



Editor & Publisher:

PINEHURST, N.C. A former Army medic made famous by a photograph that showed him carrying an injured Iraqi boy during the first week of the war has died of an apparent overdose, police said.

Joseph Patrick Dwyer died last week at a hospital in Pinehurst, according to the Boles Funeral Home. He was 31. The photograph, taken in March 2003, showed Dwyer running to a makeshift military hospital while cradling the boy. The photo appeared in newspapers, magazines and television broadcasts worldwide, making Dwyer became a symbol of heroism.

His mother said the military could have done more to help with post-traumatic stress. “He just couldn’t get over the war,” Maureen Dwyer said. “He just couldn’t do it. Just wasn’t Joseph. Joseph never came home.” Read on…

For Dwyer, much like the Marlboro Marine and the thousands of other nameless, faceless Iraq veterans who served in those hellish conditions, coming home was a nightmare. PTSD and horrific suicide rates have plagued our vets, while the Bush Administration can’t begin to handle the staggering numbers and provide them with the mental and physical care they need. I guess these guys just need to suck it up and deal, right?

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[AspenRose]

2. Rest in peace and God be with you, sir.

:cry:

I am so sick of this damn war.

[TomInTib]

3. What a goddamned shame.

These kids were never trained for the Urban nightmare they would face back home.

Instead, these poor kids were encouraged to cowboy it up, wreaking maximum havoc with the natives.

And this is how it ends up, unfortunately.

KnR

[alstephenson]

4. K & R (with great sadness)...

[Pab Sungenis]

5. I say we raise our number to 4115.

He was as much a victim as if a bullet had felled him on the battlefield.

[Frustratedlady]

6. The sad thing is, those don't get counted.

Will we ever know the true casualty count of this war?

[Duke Newcombe]

7. Message to Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the gang:

His death: around your f*&king necks FOREVER.

That is all.

Duke

[IndyOp]

8. Rest in peace Joseph. Please, everyone, watch "Marlboro Marine" - a short

powerful video that will fill you in on James Blake Miller's journey.

The Marlboro Marine
http://mediastorm.org/0020.htm

[AwakeAtLast]

9. I hug my Iraq War Vet every day

and thank my lucky stars the he is coping. It has not been easy, to say the least. My heart breaks every time I read a story like this. :cry: