Graham Dale

Last updated

Graham Dale
Born(1978-01-11)11 January 1978
Raheny, Dublin, Ireland
Died8 December 2023(2023-12-08) (aged 45)
Allegiance
Branch
Years of service
  • 2002–2008 (U.S. Marines)
Rank USMC corporal (E-4).svg Corporal
CommandsNone (Enlisted)
Battles / wars Global War on Terrorism [1]
Other workComputer Network Engineer

Graham Dale, born January 1978 in Dublin, Ireland, was a US Marine, later a network engineer and writer. He later fought for the Ukrainian military after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and was killed in December 2023. [2]

Contents

Life

Dale was born in Raheny, Dublin, Ireland. He emigrated to the United States in 2000. He served with the US Marine Corp., including in Iraq.

In Iraq, Dale was stationed at Fire Operations Base (FOB) Hit. Here, his Mobile Assault Platoon “squad” worked in and out of both the Hit and Haditha Areas of Operation (AO). Dale participated in two major operations and three battles while in Iraq - the Battle of Hit (September, 2004 to October 2004), Operation Phantom Fury (the 2nd Battle of Fallujah) from November 2004 to December 2004, and Operation River Blitz (February 2005) which commenced the Battle of Haditha following the deadly ambush that killed four Marines in Haditha on January 26th, 2005, after a raid on a farm house suspected of hiding Al Qaeda insurgents. One patrol, Dale performed CPR on fellow squad member Joseph Fite who was mortally wounded after hostile actions. This often haunted Dale years later. Dale recorded well over 200 combat missions and patrols during his combat tour in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom II - II) from August 2004 to March 2005.

Graham befriended fellow combat veteran and US Marine, James Foley. Foley, encouraged Graham to seek counseling and personally handled his VA package for disability benefits. As a result of his trauma in Iraq, Dale was rated for PTSD and received disability pension for his disorder.[ citation needed ]

As of 2019 he resided in Cedar Park, Texas, where he worked as a computer network engineer. He was also an active Volunteer Firefighter and EMT with the Jollyville fire department in Austin, Texas.[ citation needed ]

In early 2022, Graham travelled first to Poland and then to Ukraine to transport humanitarian aid in the Russo-Ukrainian War. At some point after this, he joined the Ukrainian Army. He was killed in action on the 8th December 2023. [3]

Publication

Dale is the author of The Green Marine: An Irishman's War in Iraq, in which he chronicles his enlistment into the US Marines and tour of duty in Iraq. [4] In response to the horrors inflicted upon his newly adopted country during the 911 attacks in the United States, Dale joined the US Marines and served for six years, including one tour in Iraq. [5] His book provides a first hand account of his unique status of an Irishman in the US Marines from his days in training through to combat in Iraq.[ citation needed ]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "U.S. Marine Corps Navy Cross Recipients, Iraq, 2003-Present" (PDF). Valor.defense.gov. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  2. ↑ Lally, Conor (12 December 2023). "Dubliner (45) killed fighting in Ukraine also served as US Marine in Iraq". The Irish Times.
  3. ↑ Graham Dale: Tributes paid to Irish ‘natural born hero’ killed fighting in Ukraine – The Irish Times
  4. ↑ "Author slams proposed blasphemy law". Independent.ie. 3 May 2009.
  5. ↑ Meredith, Fionola (5 May 2008). "Green marine pays the price". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 20 February 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.