Battling the Inner Demons of War

By Cordula Meyer

Shortly after Dwyer's death, Fortunato traveled from Texas to North Carolina. There, he met with Matina and Dwyer's parents and gave them their son's dog tags. He also told the family about his new treatment center and how he'd put a large photo of Joe on a pillar at its entrance. "It was nice to hear that," Matina says. But it was also painful. "Why couldn't Joseph have had all that?" she asks.

Dionne Knapp, one of Joe's fellow Musketeers, often thinks that she might have been destroyed by her experiences if Joe hadn't gone to war in her place.

Photographer Warren Zinn went back to Iraq and tracked down Ali, the young boy he had photographed in Dwyer's arms. Though Ali can only walk with difficulty, he has survived.

And Maureen Dwyer, Joe's mother, thinks about the photo of Joe on the front pages of all those newspapers. She remembers her premonition that he would never return. "Joseph never did come home," she says.

Translated from the German by Jan Liebelt

• Part 1: What Joe Dwyer's Death Can Teach Us about PTSD
• Part 2: Rocketed to Hero Status
• Part 3: Desperation and Oblivion
• Part 4: A Unique Therapy Regimen
• Part 5: The Survivors