Veteran Spotlight

by Richard D. L. Fulton

Captain John Ryan Dennison

Army Captain (John) Ryan Dennison exemplified the West Point motto of Duty, Honor, and Country throughout his life.

~ John Ryan Dennison Scholarship Fund (The Community Foundation of Fred erick County)

Captain Lieutenant John Dennison was born on February 22, 1982, at the Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Landstuhl, Landkreis Kaiserslautern, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, to parents Shannon and Jack Dennison, of Ijamsville. He had one sister, Colleen M. Dennison, and one brother, Christopher R. Dennison.

Dennison graduated in June 2000 from Urbana High School, where he played football and engaged in wrestling, according to legacy.com; additionally, he was a member of the National Honor Society, a Boys State participant, and a Big Brother volunteer.

The Baltimore Sun reported on February 17, 2006, that Dennison had played offensive guard on the Frederick County High School’s varsity football team “when the school won back-to-back state championships in 1998 and 1999.”

Dennison received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he subsequently graduated in May 2004, with a Bachelor of Science degree in international relations.

While at West Point, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, was a member of the Black Knights skydiving team, and was the team president in his in senior year, according to legacy.com.

Dennison met his wife, Haley Ann Edwards, while both were enrolled as cadets at West Point. The couple was subsequently married after graduation. The Baltimore Sun had reported on November 17, 2006, that Dennison and Edwards had initially met in a philosophy course at West Point.

The Sun further reported that the newlyweds’ honeymoon had consisted of a cruise around the Mediterranean. The couple was separated for a few months for Dennison to partake in officer-training classes but was reunited in spring 2005, whereupon they bought their first (and only) home.

Dennison had completed the Infantry Officer Basic Course and Ranger training before becoming a member of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in April 2005. According to his obituary published on legacy. com, Dennison had been qualified for airborne, ranger, sapper, and jump-master duties.

In September 2005, he deployed with his unit to New Orleans to provide aid in Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, according to findagrave.com.

In August 2006, he was deployed to Kuwait with the Fifth Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

In early September 2006, his unit was deployed into Iraq, east of Baghdad (as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom), according to findagrave. com. Before his deployment to Iraq, his wife, now a first lieutenant, had been deployed to Afghanistan.

Dennison was fatally wounded when he was struck by two gunshots while serving as a platoon leader and a member of Task Force Lightning in fighting, which was occurring east of Baghdad (The Baltimore Sun had reported on November 29, 2006, that Dennison had been killed in Balad, where a U.S. air base was then located. The base was located near Balad in the Sunni Triangle, 40 miles north of Baghdad.

Dennison’s father, Jack Dennison, told The Baltimore Sun that his son’s wife, Haley, was “devastated” after learning of her husband’s death while she was deployed in Afghanistan.

“They were very much in love. I think they were an ideal couple. Her mother said to me today that they were so perfect that no one thought anything like this would happen,” his father had told The Sun, as per that newspaper’s February 17, 2006, edition.

Dennison was promoted posthumously from first lieutenant to captain, effective November 15, 2006. His awards included the Bronze Star medal, Purple Heart medal, Army Commendation medal, National Defense Service medal, and the Combat and Expert Infantryman’s badges.

His funeral was held on November 29, 2006, at the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Frederick, followed by his interment at the Arlington National Cemetery.

Captain Lieutenant John Dennison