Senior Airman Jason Dean Cunningham was born on March 27, 1975, and grew up in Carlsbad, New Mexico. His mother remembered a boy who was full of life, lived each moment to the fullest and was always looking for the next adventure. An athlete who played football, ran track and swam, he attended Carlsbad High School and graduated from Farmington High School in 1994.
Jason entered the U.S. Navy and trained as an aviation boatswain’s mate. His first assignment took him to Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy, where he met a fellow sailor, Theresa de Castro. They married in 1996 and had two daughters, Kyla and Hannah. While in the Navy, Jason passed the fitness test for the SEALs, but he wanted a different path. “I want to save people,” he told his father. When his four-year Navy enlistment ended, he set out to become an Air Force pararescueman.
Jason entered the Air Force in 1999 and completed the demanding pararescue pipeline in June 2001, earning the maroon beret. He was assigned to the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, and after the attacks of September 11 he deployed to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. There he volunteered at every casualty event at the forward surgical team, and he helped win approval for pararescuemen to carry whole blood into combat, then made sure every PJ at Bagram was trained and certified to do so.
On March 4, 2002, during Operation Anaconda, Jason was the primary combat search and rescue medic on a quick reaction force sent to recover Navy SEAL Petty Officer First Class Neil Roberts and Air Force combat controller Technical Sergeant John Chapman on Takur Ghar, a 10,000-foot peak now known as Roberts Ridge. Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy fire forced his MH-47E Chinook down in the enemy’s kill zone. Jason went to work inside the damaged helicopter and then, again and again, exposed himself to enemy fire to move the wounded to safer ground. During one of those movements he was mortally wounded. Knowing how badly he was hurt, he kept treating his patients and passing vital information on their condition to other medics until he lost consciousness. His actions helped save ten gravely wounded Americans. He was 26.
Jason was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross on September 13, 2002, at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. He was the first pararescueman killed in combat since the Vietnam War. His decorations also include the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal and the Air Force and Navy Good Conduct Medals. In 2010 Travis Air Force Base dedicated a street in his honor.
“Jason died doing what he liked to do, save lives,” his father, Larry, said. In a letter read at his memorial, Jason told Theresa that he died a happy man because he had met her and had two wonderful girls. “He would never hang up the phone without saying he loved me. He left nothing unsaid,” Theresa said. “I hear all about how he was a great soldier, but he was also a great man.” He was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. He is survived by his wife, Theresa; his daughters, Kyla and Hannah; and his parents, Larry and Jackie Cunningham.
Sources
- Travis Air Force Base: Honoring an Enlisted Hero: Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham
- National Museum of the U.S. Air Force: Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham
- U.S. Air Forces Central: Jason D. Cunningham biography
- Family-provided records on file with MVF: Jason Cunningham bio and 2026 honoree information sheet
