12/6/07
Manning native Dingle receives Bronze Star
By Cathy Gilbert

Captain Joseph Dingle, Jr., formerly of Manning, has received the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Action Badge and a host of other awards and decorations as a Company Commander.

The Bronze Star Medal is the U.S. Armed Forces’ fourth-highest award for combat bravery, heroism and meritorious service. His U.S. Army Reserve unit, the 352nd HHD Combat Service Support Battalion, which is based in Macon, Georgia, returned from northern Iraq in June, having spent the year prior there on active duty.

As a logistic company supporting, managing and providing gun truck security for supplies throughout the dangerous and volatile roads of northern Iraq the 352nd was one of the most decorated non-combat units in Iraq. In addition to his unit’s accomplishments, they earned the honor becoming the first U.S. Army Reserve unit since World War II authorized to wear the 81st Wild Cat, the oldest patch in the U.S. Army, as combat patch.

“It’s a proud moment for us because we accomplished so much,” said Capt. Dingle. “Some said we made history, you can not erase what we have done. All of this maybe good, but the real blessing is when 100 percent of your soldiers returned home safely to their families without casualties.”

Capt. Dingle received a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship in college. Following graduation at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Quartermaster Corps. He has two masters’ Degrees, one in health services administration from Central Michigan University and one in counseling and psychology from Troy State University. Dingle is currently pursuing his doctorate in general human service at Capella University, an accredited online university.

He is currently a program manager at MENTOR, a therapeutic foster care Agency, in Aiken.

He is the son of retired 1st Sgt. Joseph and Marie Dingle formerly of Manning, now living in Warner Robins, Georgia.

Capt. Dingle resides in Grovetown, Georgia with his wife Sheilena, his five-year-old son, Joseph “Hero” Dingle III and his two-year-old daughter, Victoria.