A Soldier Becomes An American Symbol

U.S. Army Pfc. Joseph P. Dwyer has become an American icon, a symbol of our fighting men and women in Iraq. Dwyer, 26, was stamped onto the American consciousness a week ago, when a photograph a of him wearing full battle gear and carrying an injured Iraqi child to safety was splashed across the front page of USA Today. The impact of the photo is comparable to the one of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

But for people in Moore County especially, the story behind the photograph is as compelling as the image itself. Dwyer, who lived with his parents in nearby Wagram before joining the Army, formerly worked as a patient transporter at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, where his father, Patrick Dwyer, is director of security. On Feb. 15, Pfc. Dwyer married Matina Brown of Robbins.

The elder Dwyer is a former transit policeman in New York City, and three of the soldier’s brothers are New York City policemen. Another brother recently joined the Air Force. Joseph Dwyer enlisted in the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks and became a medic.

“It was just what I could do at the time,” he said in an interview with The Army Times.