USARAK Soldier weds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Trish McMurphy
  • U.S. Army Alaska Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Dana Wille and Sgt. Davin Dumar had known each other since high school and ran on the track team together.

They admittedly had crushes on each other, but each was too shy to profess his or her love for the other.

"Davin was a senior while Dana was just a freshman", said Laura Wille, Dana's mother, "And they kept in touch via the Internet."

She said she didn't think the two talked to each other that much; just "kept track" of each other.

Dumar joined the Army in 2005, a year after high school, and except for a one-year tour at Fort Bragg, N.C., was stationed in Alaska.

This April, during Dumar's second Alaska tour as an infantryman with the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, he unexpectedly got back in touch with Dana when he commented on the Facebook site of a mutual friend who, unbeknownst to him, had passed away.

Dana saw Davin's comment and she thought it best to let him know what had happened to their friend, according to Laura Wille.

Soon they started calling and texting each other.

"I couldn't tell you how many pages of text I saw on her phone bill," Laura Wille said.
When Dumar deployed to Afghanistan with the 1-25th SBCT in May, the two kept in touch as much as possible.

Dumar said he wrote more than 30 letters in that time and had decided he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Dana Wille.

He said he was going to surprise her with a marriage proposal on his mid-tour leave in August, but an unforeseen event July 7 changed those plans.

Dumar was injured in an attack and had to be transported to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for treatment.

Dumar's father notified Dana and she got to the hospital as soon as she could.
"She never wavered, never looked back," Dana's mother said.

"She just couldn't wait to get down to see him in person and reassure him that she was still there for him."

"I think he proposed to her the day after she got there and she thought he was out of it on his medication or just joking with her," Laura Wille said.

"She said 'yes,' but then she just pushed it aside thinking this was not for real, but a day or two later he reassured her that he was dead serious."

"She was kind enough to stay with me when I lost my leg," Dumar said, "I figured if she could stick with me through that she could stick with me through anything.

"My dad had my credit card and I had him run it for her to buy her own ring because I was in the hospital and couldn't do it," he said.

Dana Wille started planning the wedding.

She made all the arrangements and the date was set: Oct 8.

A few friends, doctors and nurses and the bride and groom's parents were in attendance, along with a surprise visit from U.S. Army Alaska's Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Raymond Palumbo and Command Sgt. Maj. David Turnbull.

Dana Wille and Dumar were wed at the Walter Reed Chapel and plan to have another ceremony next November in Michigan so the rest of their friends and family can attend.
Dumar said he plans to stay in the Army, but will have to talk it over with his new bride ... after the honeymoon.