The Age: Celebrated soldier dies tormented by war memories


This 2003 image of Joseph Dwyer carrying a young Iraqi boy to safety had represented a heroic view of the US invasion. Photo: AP

Joseph Dwyer died on 28 June of an apparent drug overdose.

“He loved the picture, don’t get me wrong, but he just couldn’t get over the war,” his mother, Maureen Dwyer, said by telephone from her home in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. “He wasn’t Joseph any more. Joseph never came home.”

Mr Dwyer’s parents said they tried to get help for their son, appealing to army and Veterans Affairs officials. Although he was treated off and on in VA facilities, he was never able to shake his anxieties.

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