Marine’s father, widow question how he died

Pronounced dead at clinic
Shortly before 4 p.m., Diaz and Abril brought Canham into a tent. Dustin soon collapsed; other Marines saw Diaz run out of the tent to get help, Devyn said. Resuscitation efforts failed. He was pronounced dead at the camp's medical clinic at 5:12 p.m.

One letter to the family, written by Lt. Col. J.R. Hill of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, said, "Dustin was in his air-conditioned quarters while exercising when he unexpectedly collapsed," and added that "the Marines who found him" immediately called for help.

Another, written by Lt. Col. Thomas E. Foos, commanding officer of 8th Provisional Security Company, and Capt. Craig E. Harris, commander of Alpha Company at Lemonier, said, "Dustin was exercising with his fire team leader in his tent doing what we call the Daily Seven" — an exercise routine that includes push-ups and core-body work — and that he collapsed after just two or three minutes.

None of the letters explained why Canham was in the tent with two superiors. Devyn Canham said three Marines told her it was not Dustin's own tent, but another that might not have been air-conditioned. The high temperature that afternoon neared the mid-90s.

Dustin's father, Mark Canham, said an investigator confirmed to him that Dustin was doing physical training in lieu of receiving a black mark on his record, typically referred to as a "page 11," when he died. Devyn said no military officials have told her that.

The nine-page autopsy report makes no mention of Canham exercising; it says merely that he collapsed while in his quarters. Canham's heart weighed 450 grams, at the top of the normal range.

The medical examiner listed the cause of death as a thickening of the left ventricular wall, a condition sometimes found in endurance athletes. Canham was in excellent shape, his family said.

"His enlarged heart and hypertrophic left ventricular wall left him vulnerable to disruption of life-sustaining cardiac rhythms," Monaghan concluded.

Searching for answers
Heat exhaustion can cause such a disruption.

Although Mark Canham signed a privacy waiver authorizing the military to discuss the autopsy with the AP, the military would not allow an interview with the pathologists. The AP instead gave its questions to Mark Canham, who asked them of Monaghan last week.

According to Mark Canham, Monaghan said that he was unaware Dustin had been exercising or that he was being punished when he died, and that he had no reason to suspect heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Mallak confirmed that, Devyn and her lawyer said.

Mark Canham has spent the past two months trying to contact his son's friends in the Marines, investigators and members of Congress to pry loose any information he can.

"I just want to know what happened," he said. "I wish I could let the whole thing go. But that would be a grave injustice to my son."

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