Corporal Jonathan Schumacher, USMC, Ret Jon grew up in the Portland area of Oregon and graduated from Centennial High School in 2002. During high school, Jon was an avid wrestler and later became a coach after graduation. Jon joined the family construction business, Schumacher Custom Homes, after graduating. He later established his own company, Jon Schumacher Homes, which built single family houses. In 2008, Jon began to desire something different. In August 2008, Jon left his family and secure career to pursue his childhood dream of enlisting in the USMC.

After Basic training and Infantry training, Jon was stationed at Twenty Nine Palms California with the 3rd Battalion 7th Marines (3/7). Prior to Jon’s first deployment, he married his wife, Courtney. In March of 2010, 3/7 deployed after a year of pre-deployment work up. They eventually found themselves in the Sangin river valley, the most dangerous area in Afghanistan during this time. They returned stateside in October 2010 and began retraining for a second deployment back to Sangin in 2011. On October 30, 2011, Marine Corporal Jonathan Schumacher was one month into his second deployment when he suffered the traumatic amputations of both legs and amputations on his left hand in an IED blast in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. While on a dismounted patrol, Cpl. Schumacher stepped on a buried IED along a tree line. Cpl. Schumacher was the seventh Marine in a group of 8 Marines to cross a muddy field to support another squad that previously identified multiple IEDs. Cpl. Schumacher came upon a second tree line while on his way to question the individuals who were seen with weapons in the area. After stepping on the buried IED, Jon did not immediately know the damage caused by the blast. As his squad risked their lives rendering lifesaving aid to him, Cpl. Schumacher directed orders to set up security to prepare for the MEDEVAC and return enemy gunfire. While Jon was rushed to the helicopter, he continued to alert his Marines of areas
he believed they would encounter additional IEDs. (It was later discovered that Cpl. Schumacher was correct in his assumption of where additional IEDs were buried, which undoubtedly saved others from harm.) Under enemy rifle and machine gun fire, Cpl. Schumacher was taken to the landing zone and airlifted to Camp Bastion where he endured the first of many surgeries.

His wife, 35 weeks pregnant, and son, Ethan, were immediately notified. He was then flown to Bagram Air Force Base and stabilized for transfer to Landstuhl,
Germany. Once in Germany, he remained for seven days while doctors tried to control the bleeding in his lung. His wife, Courtney, met Jon in Bethesda National Medical Center. While there she delivered their second son, Easton, just two floors above Cpl. Schumacher’s hospital room. Cpl. Schumacher spent two and a half months at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. He then transferred to Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego, CA where he spent a year undergoing multiple surgeries for infections and suffering many setbacks.
Cpl. Schumacher retired from the USMC on June 30th, 2013 and moved to the Temecula/Murrieta area in CA. Since his retirement, Jon began to pursue his education in engineering. He enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons, Ethan and Easton. As parents, Jon and Courtney strive to raise their children to give back to their community and help make a difference.