By Kelly Kennedy Army Times
During the first week of the war in Iraq in 2003, a Military Times photographer captured the image of Army Pfc. Joseph Patrick Dwyer as he raced through a battle zone clutching a tiny Iraqi boy named Ali.
"Doc" Dwyer's concerned face appeared on the pages of newspapers across the country. Dwyer, 31, died June 28 in Pinehurst, N.C., after years of struggling with mental disorders. During that time, he spiraled into substance abuse and depression, and he found himself in trouble with the law.
"Of course he was looked on as a hero here," said Capt. Floyd Thomas of the Pinehurst Police. Still, "we've been dealing with him for over a year."
The day he died, Dwyer called a taxi company for a ride to the hospital, Thomas said. When the driver arrived, "they had a conversation through the door (of Dwyer's home)," Thomas said, but Dwyer would not let the driver in. The driver asked Dwyer if he should call the police. Dwyer said yes. When the police arrived, they asked him if they should break down the door. He again said yes. Thomas told TheFayetteville (N.C.) Observer that bottles of prescription medicine were found near Dwyer.
Dwyer served with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment as the unit headed into Baghdad at the beginning of the war. Only four of the 21 days in which the regiment pushed forward lacked gunfire, he later told Newsday. The day before Warren Zinn snapped his photo for Military Times, Dwyer's Humvee had been hit by a rocket.
Full article here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-07-08-iraq_N.htm