Soldier Made Famous By Photo Dies in PinehurstBY MATTHEW MORIARTY AND JOHN CHAPPELL
This photo shot by Warren Zinn shows Joseph Patrick Dwyer, 31 in full battle gear, and was splashed across the front page of USA Today and other newspapers and on television all over the world. Dwyer instantly became an American icon, a symbol of American fighting men and women in Iraq. Some compared the photo's impact to the World War II picture of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. He died in his home in Pinehurst Saturday, June 28th, 2008. An Army medic whose image made the nation's front pages in the early days of the war in Iraq died in Pinehurst Saturday.
Joseph Patrick Dwyer, 31, died of an apparent overdose in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. After breaking down the door to Dwyer's home, officers found him surrounded by empty cans of aerosol-gas dusters and prescription pills.
Capt. Floyd Thomas said that police believe Dwyer accidentally overdosed on inhalants and pills. He said he didn't know if an autopsy would be performed. Dwyer's wife, Matina, said he had sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. "He was a very good and caring person," she said. "He signed up to fight for his country. He was originally from New York. When he saw what happened with the towers (in the 9/11 terrorist attacks), he felt like it was something he had to do."
Dwyer, a private first-class medic, became an image of the Iraq war after a picture showing him carrying an injured Iraqi boy away from a fire fight ran on the front page of several newspapers in 2003, just after the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces.
"He was just never the same when he came back, because of all the things he saw," Matina Dwyer said. "He tried to seek treatment, but it didn't work." According to the police report, Dwyer called a taxi company Saturday to take him to the hospital. When the driver from Southern Pines Transportation arrived, she found him lying on the floor, unable to come to the door. Southern Pines Transportation then called the Pinehurst Police Department. Officers arrived shortly after 7 p.m. The report says that Dwyer called from inside the house, "Help me, please! I'm dying. Help me. I can't breathe!" Officers asked Dwyer to come to the door, but he said he couldn't. They asked him if he wanted them to break in. He said, "Yes, please." They kicked the door down, and paramedics came to his aid. Officers helped lift Dwyer onto the stretcher and were pushing him into the back of the ambulance when one of them noticed that his eyes became "fixated and glassy," the report says. Paramedics started cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he was loaded into the ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m.
"We know that Joseph is at peace now," Matina Dwyer said. "He doesn't have to deal with the awful pictures he would see in his mind." She said that she hoped that her husband's death would bring more attention to post-traumatic stress disorder. There should be more avenues and resources to help soldiers, especially in this area, she said. It's not just the soldiers who suffer, she said -- it's their families too.
"There are so many others suffering from the same thing," she said. "I wish there were a better way to deal with this. He was still a loving and caring person."
Army Times photographer Warren Zinn snapped the picture of Dwyer racing across the battlefield with the frightened Iraqi boy in his arms.
This photo shot by Warren Zinn shows Joseph Patrick Dwyer, 31 in full battle gear, and was splashed across the front page of USA Today and other newspapers and on television all over the world. Dwyer instantly became an American icon, a symbol of American fighting men and women in Iraq. Some compared the photo's impact to the World War II picture of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. He died in his home in Pinehurst Saturday, June 28th, 2008. An Army medic whose image made the nation's front pages in the early days of the war in Iraq died in Pinehurst Saturday.
Joseph Patrick Dwyer, 31, died of an apparent overdose in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. After breaking down the door to Dwyer's home, officers found him surrounded by empty cans of aerosol-gas dusters and prescription pills.
Capt. Floyd Thomas said that police believe Dwyer accidentally overdosed on inhalants and pills. He said he didn't know if an autopsy would be performed. Dwyer's wife, Matina, said he had sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. "He was a very good and caring person," she said. "He signed up to fight for his country. He was originally from New York. When he saw what happened with the towers (in the 9/11 terrorist attacks), he felt like it was something he had to do."
Dwyer, a private first-class medic, became an image of the Iraq war after a picture showing him carrying an injured Iraqi boy away from a fire fight ran on the front page of several newspapers in 2003, just after the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces.
"He was just never the same when he came back, because of all the things he saw," Matina Dwyer said. "He tried to seek treatment, but it didn't work." According to the police report, Dwyer called a taxi company Saturday to take him to the hospital. When the driver from Southern Pines Transportation arrived, she found him lying on the floor, unable to come to the door. Southern Pines Transportation then called the Pinehurst Police Department. Officers arrived shortly after 7 p.m. The report says that Dwyer called from inside the house, "Help me, please! I'm dying. Help me. I can't breathe!" Officers asked Dwyer to come to the door, but he said he couldn't. They asked him if he wanted them to break in. He said, "Yes, please." They kicked the door down, and paramedics came to his aid. Officers helped lift Dwyer onto the stretcher and were pushing him into the back of the ambulance when one of them noticed that his eyes became "fixated and glassy," the report says. Paramedics started cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he was loaded into the ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m.
"We know that Joseph is at peace now," Matina Dwyer said. "He doesn't have to deal with the awful pictures he would see in his mind." She said that she hoped that her husband's death would bring more attention to post-traumatic stress disorder. There should be more avenues and resources to help soldiers, especially in this area, she said. It's not just the soldiers who suffer, she said -- it's their families too.
"There are so many others suffering from the same thing," she said. "I wish there were a better way to deal with this. He was still a loving and caring person."
Army Times photographer Warren Zinn snapped the picture of Dwyer racing across the battlefield with the frightened Iraqi boy in his arms.
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