Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Honoring Corporal Jason Dunham



One of the things I like best about teaching is educating children about social studies topics. Recently, I presented a lesson focusing on presidential memorials. As an extension, students were asked to select a person they would like to honor, and draw a memorial for that person.

My cooperating teacher is the wife of a retired Army officer, so she also stresses an appreciation for the sacrifices made by our military. After it was announced another Congressional Medal of Honor would be awarded to a service member from the Global War on Terror, she mentioned it in class during the morning announcements time, which includes the Pledge of Allegiance. Being a frequent reader of milblogs, I knew the name of the newest recipient, and what he had done to earn it. I shared that information with the class.

So, back to the lesson on memorials: one student came up to me and asked for ideas about who to honor. I suggested presidents, police officers, firefighters, and the military. This little boy, who says he wants to be a soldier when he grows up, liked the suggestion of the military, and asked about the most recent person to be selected for the Congressional Medal of Honor. I hopped online and looked up and printed some information on Corporal Jason Dunham. Another student also liked that idea, so I printed out some additional information for the second student. What this second student drew was very touching, I thought. I wanted to share it with my friends in the military, but I first had to request permission from his parents to do so. I received that permission today. So, above is a third-grader's memorial to Corporal Jason Dunham...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was a beautiful tribute. Thank you so much for sharing this!

Laurie said...

Awww. Darn. eyes are leaking.

devildog6771 said...

Now that was beautiful. From the mouth of a babe, truth andhonesty!

Cassandra said...

What a great picture - thanks so much for letting me know about it.

ArmyMom said...

I am currently reading "A Gift of Valor" about Corporal Jason Dunham. I was so hopeful this courageous young man would survive his injuries and was heartbroke to find that he paid the ultimate sacrifice! What a wonderful tribute this child paid Corporal Dunham! How beautiful! Thank you and God bless you! My heartfelt sympathies go out to Jason's family!