Graham Dale, born January 1978 in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, was a US Marine, later a network engineer and writer. He wa
killed
in December 2023 while fighting with the Ukrainian military after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the year before.

Life

Dale was born in

Raheny Raheny () is a northern suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, halfway from the city centre to Howth. It is centred on a historic settlement, first documented in 570 AD (Mervyn Archdall (Irish antiquary), Mervyn Archdall). The district ...

, 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. As of 2019 he resided in

Cedar Park, Texas Cedar Park is a city and a suburb of Austin, Texas, Austin in the U.S. state of Texas, approximately northwest of the center of Austin. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 77,595, and in 2022 ...

, 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. In early 2022, Graham travelled first to Poland and then to Ukraine to transport humanitarian aid in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

. At some point after this, he joined the Ukrainian Army. He was killed in action on the 8th December 2023.

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. Upon witnessing the horrors inflicted upon his newly adopted country during the 911 attacks in the United States, Dale signed up to the US Marines and served his country for six years, including one tour in Iraq. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dale, Graham 1978 births Military personnel from Dublin (city) People from Raheny Irish emigrants to the United States United States Marines Irish male writers People from Cedar Park, Texas Living people

Life

Publication

See also

References