Dunham, 36, Augusta, Ga., was killed May 24 when the Humvee he was aboard was struck by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Dunham, a 19-year Army veteran, was attached to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley.
In the days after his death, his parents were returning home from church when they discovered that friends and neighbors had put 24 tiny American flags in their yard.
"It put tears in my eyes," George Dunham told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "He was a very devoted soldier. That was his life."
His brother, Charles Dunham, said Dunham, who with his wife Kimberly had five sons, was seriously considering retiring from the Army when his hitch was up.
"He said in today's fast-paced society, people are so busy that they risk neglecting their family, and he wanted to make sure he didn't do that," Charles Dunham told the Associated Press. "He gave it his all. He was proud of that."
Dunham graduated from Mergethaler Vocational Technical High School in Baltimore, Md., in 1988. He enjoyed playing the piano and organ, and he directed the church choir and served as minister of music wherever he was stationed. He met his wife while a member of the church choir stationed in South Korea.
"He was a family man and man of God," Kimberly Dunham told the Augusta Chronicle.
Dunham joined the Army in 1988, and after graduating from basic training he attended advanced individual training at Fort Benning, Ga., where he trained as a microwave radio system operator. He deployed to Iraq on Jan. 2, 2007.
Awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart Medal, and the Combat Action Badge.
He is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and sons Brandon, Kendric, Nathan, Robert and Noel. He is also survived by his father, George Dunham, and his mother, Doris Mooring.
