Master Sergeant Jonathan J. Dunbar, whose Ojibwe name was Waabishkebinesi, was born on July 15, 1981, in International Falls, Minnesota. He grew up in North Austin, Texas, and graduated in 1999 from John B. Connally High School. His sister, Crystal, remembers a boy with big glasses who loved to play the hero: “Whether he was playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians or anything like that, he was always the superhero.”
John entered the Army as an infantryman in May 2005 and completed his initial entry training at Fort Benning, Georgia. His first assignment was with Company C, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg, where he served as a machine gunner, a fire team leader and a squad leader. With the 325th he deployed once to Afghanistan and once to Iraq. In November 2009 he moved to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 38th Cavalry Regiment (Long Range Surveillance) at Fort Hood, Texas, where he served four years as a squad leader and deployed to Iraq again.
In 2013 John was assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, at Fort Bragg, where he served as a team member and deployed three more times in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. His military education includes the Basic Airborne Course, Ranger School, the Pathfinder Course, the Static Line Jumpmaster Course, the Advanced Land Navigation Course, the Senior Leader Course, SERE, the Military Free Fall and Jumpmaster Courses and the Special Forces Sniper Course.
In the spring of 2018 John deployed to Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, advising, assisting and accompanying partner forces in the fight against ISIS. On March 30, 2018, near Manbij, his team was conducting a mission to capture or kill a known ISIS member when an improvised explosive device detonated near the patrol. John was killed in the blast, along with a British soldier serving alongside him. He was 36.
His awards and decorations include three Bronze Star Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, six Army Achievement Medals, five Good Conduct Medals, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the Iraq Campaign Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the NATO Medal, the Ranger Tab, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Pathfinder Badge, the Military Freefall Jumpmaster Badge and the Parachutist Badge. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
John is survived by his wife Jolinda, his children, his mother Linda Blanchard and her husband Robert, his father Ted Dunbar and his sister Crystal. His teammates remember a quiet professional who carried the heart of the superhero his sister described all his life.
They were conducting a mission to kill or capture a known ISIS member, when they were struck by an improvised explosive device.
Memorial Valor Foundation
Sources
- U.S. Army (USASOC): U.S. Army Special Operations Soldier killed in action (Apr. 2, 2018)
- Department of Defense: DoD identifies Army casualty
- ARSOF History: Master Sergeant Jonathan J. Dunbar
- National Purple Heart Hall of Honor: Jonathan J. Dunbar
- Family-provided records on file with MVF: John Dunbar bio
