Memorial Services for Milpitas Marine Planned for Saturday

Memorial services for Stephen J. Dunning, , are planned for this Saturday, Nov. 12 at noon at the Jubilee Christian Center, 105 Nortech Parkway in San Jose.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Dunning was an explosive ordnance disposal technician, and was killed attempting to disarm a bomb in the Helmand province.

Adding to a long list of distinguished service awards Dunning received throughout his military career, he was awarded a posthumous purple heart following his death.

Dunning, a 1998 graduate of , joined the Marine Corps in April of 1999. He was assigned to the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, which is usually based out of Okinawa, Japan, where he had been serving since June of 2009. His unit had recently been sent to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Dunning was featured in a July 2010 Vanity Fair photo essay about the war in Afghanistan, which juxtaposed images of locals and soldiers in the town of Marja, a Taliban stronghold. In the photo, he displayed part of a system - comprised of an Xbox controller, a pair of sunglasses fitted with a video display and a bomb-disposal robot - that allows Marines to remotely disarm or explode improvised explosive devices.

The memorial services for Dunning this Saturday are open to the public.

Memorial donations may be made in memory of Dunning to the Wounded Explosive Ordnance Disposal Warrior Foundation at www.woundedeodwarrior.org.

- Bay City News contributed to this report.