While conducting vehicle searches in Anbar Province in Iraq, Corporal Jason L. Dunham engaged the driver of a vehicle after he hopped out of it and physically challenged American troops. The Iraqi dropped a grenade in the middle of the skirmish. Without hesitation, Dunham, a 22-year-old New York native, used his body to shield others from the explosion.

Dunham died from his injuries eight days later on April 22, 2004. More than 20 years later, an Omaha-based assisted living complex for wounded veterans will bear the name of the Medal of Honor recipient.

The Dunham House, a 30-unit assisted living complex, is expected to open in September 2026 and will be home to veterans of the Middle East conflicts, unable to care for themselves, said retired Marine Colonel John Folsom. Folsom is spearheading its development in association with Wounded Warriors Family Support, an organization created by Folsom in 2003.

Wounded Warriors Family Support quickly had a national impact, said Kate McCauley, its chief executive officer.

"We wanted to make sure that we were helping veterans who were having challenges and their severe wounds," McCauley said. "What can we do to help them and their families? And part of the family is the wife, caregiver for the veteran in most cases, and so one of our programs was who's taking care of the family if something happens to the spouse?"

The Dunham House will cover 27,000 sq. feet on 8.5 acres in North Omaha, near the historic Omaha Country Club. The organization owns 40 acres there, Folsom said. It allows for expansion or additional residential or commercial development, he said.

While the facility will be named in honor of one hero, the idea for the housing complex took hold of Folsom during a 2005 holiday visit to Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Following a series of meetings, Folsom and another person visited the hospital to share holiday greetings with patients. One soldier in particular caught his attention.

Brain-damaged as a result of an IED explosion, the soldier couldn't talk. Someone produced a guitar, asking his mother the soldier's favorite song.

The singer strummed the guitar, quietly serenading the soldier.

Making eye contact with the wounded soldier, Folsom said he had an epiphany. "Who's going to take care of him when his mother is no longer around?" Folsom said. "His sister may not be able to take him in. What's going to happen to him? He's going to go to an assisted living center with a whole bunch of other people, none of whom will have anything in common with him. And he's going to be relatively young."

The idea for the Dunham House was born.

"What we need to do is have a special residence, not a facility, but a residence on a small scale, so we have more camaraderie," Folsom said. "I think we've done a great job of saving lives. We've done a great job of putting soldiers back together physically. What we can't do is put them back together spiritually."

Estimated to cost about $10 million, the assisted living complex is privately funded, Folsom said.

Having signed a contract with CrossMed Healthcare Staffing, the company will provide registered nurses, certified nursing assistants, and clerical support, McCauley said. She will manage the facility and its programs, Folsom said.

People will apply to live at the Dunham House. Folsom expects Middle East veterans from around the country to live at the Omaha site.

Initially, Dunham House will focus on veterans who suffered traumatic brain injuries - also known as the “invisible injury” - common among veterans of the Global War on Terrorism, Folsom said. It results from a forceful bump, blow, jolt, or object penetrating the brain. Veterans with TBIs face lifelong challenges, including health, mental, and socioeconomic difficulties, he said.

Veterans with physical limitations, such as those who are wheelchair-bound, will also be priority candidates to live at Dunham House, Folsom said.

Jason Ross is one of two veterans who have already been preselected to live at the complex. "Jason had his legs blown off, up into his belly," Folsom said. “His father just died of a stroke. Jason is a typical story, gets blown up in Afghanistan. His wife divorced him, left him with two daughters. Jason can't take care of himself. There's no way. He has no legs. There's no chance of having prosthetics. He's done. He wants to come live here."

Folsom envisions the Omaha facility as the cornerstone for a national project.

"We've done the research, we've done the heavy lifting," he said. "We think this works. This particular model. It may not be the exact replica of the building, but if we've already kind of designed what you need, then there's a bit of expense you can do away with because we already got the plans."

He imagines veteran-centric assisted living complexes in cities such as San Diego, Denver, Pittsburgh, and St. Petersburg, Fla., Folsom said.

Besides an assisted living complex for Middle Eastern veterans, Folsom plans to construct the first national veteran’s memorial dedicated to the more than 4,400 men and women who have died as a result of the conflicts.

"To me, it's part of the healing process for families," he said. Planning to incorporate "the Bixby letter," correspondence President Abraham Lincoln sent to a mother who lost five sons during the Civil War, the letter resonated with him, Folsom said.

"He concluded, saying, 'The solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid such a solemn gift on the altar of freedom,' and I wonder about that, because you got mom and dad, brother, sister, wife, and husband," Folsom said.

During a conversation with Bob Kerrey - a Medal of Honor recipient during the Vietnam Conflict - the former United States senator and Nebraska governor gave him a simple piece of advice regarding building a national memorial, Folsom said.

"'Well, you better, because it may not ever get built,' he told me," Folsom said. "Look how long it took for the Vietnam Memorial to be put up, years."

Privately funded, the memorial will cost about $1.5 million, McCauley said. It will honor people who died during combat or from wounds caused by the conflicts, Folsom said.

As the nation’s first true memorial to the Middle East veterans, since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, no federal agency, such as the Department of Defense, will be involved, so there shouldn't be any delays, Folsom said.

As people visit the memorial, which is still being designed, they need to understand there's always a human cost to war, Folsom said.

"That needs to be reckoned before we do anything stupid," he said. "I'm very jaundiced when it comes to this, and I remember watching the House or Senate vote on a resolution to invade Iraq. In October of 2002, I was working with General (James) Mattis on his staff, First Marine Division.

"Everybody's talking, 'We're going to make peace. We're going to get things situated with Saddam Hussein.' We were planning to invade his country in October 2002, and I was part of that planning. And I watched these guys in Congress all vote to invade Iraq. And the question I'd ask, if I had a chance to talk to 535 senators and U.S. House members, is, 'Okay, gang, this is great. How many of you will have a son or daughter going into combat?'" If Congress is going to authorize a war, it needs to resurrect the draft, with no college deferments, Folsom said.

"If it's not worth sending the rich man's son to the war, it ain't worth going," he said. "I've seen too many dead Marines."

Tim Trudell is a freelance writer and online content creator. His work has appeared in Flatwater Free Press, Next Avenue, Indian Country Today, Nebraska Life, Nebraska Magazine, Council Bluffs Daily Non-Pareil and Douglas County Post Gazette, among others. He is a citizen of the Santee Dakota Nation.