Their son wasn’t at the Night of Heroes gala Wednesday night. He was manning a checkpoint in Iraq near the Syrian border in 2004, when a local man went for his throat.

The marine wrestled with his assailant. The man dropped a live grenade during the struggle. Dunham didn’t hesitate. He jumped on the grenade to save his comrades and died eight days later.

The Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation hosted the charity event at the Tyson’s Corner Ritz Carlton. The foundation is a nonprofit organization which helps fill in the gaps. The charity uses 100 percent for programs, because the credit union picks up all administrative expenses.

Dunham’s parents accepted the Military Heroes Award from retired Gen. Barry McCaffery. The parents accepted the Medal of Honor on behalf of their son from President George W. Bush on Jan. 11, 2007.

Debra Dunham told the audience about her son as only a mother could. She described him as an excellent athlete, but one who would take the time to sit with non-athletes who would get picked on.

Jason was kind to his younger siblings and even took himself out of a basketball game, so his younger brother could get a chance to play, much to the chagrin of the coach.

‘‘When I see him, there’s a lot of dinners he owes me,” she said.

Another Marine received an award at the gala. Retired Col. Barney Barnum was the fourth Marine recipient in the Vietnam War. He also received the Military Hero Award.

Barnum took over command of a rifle company when its commander was mortally wounded. He fearlessly exposed himself to enemy fire, reorganized and rallied the men and directed helicopter fire against the entrenched enemy positions.

The then first lieutenant cleared an area for the helicopter evacuation of the dead and wounded before helping to seize the battalion’s objectives.

The foundation funds ‘‘Dream Makers” for first time home-buyers. Service members may receive a grant of up to $5,000 toward a down payment and closing costs of a new house.

Last-stage hospice care at Walter Reed, wireless laptops and networks at military hospitals, child-care and interest-free emergency loans are some of the other programs provided by the foundation. They are planning to build a $12 million veterans and wounded warrior lodge at the Palo Alto, Calif., VA Hospital.

Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter spoke about ‘‘quiet heroism” during the after dinner speech.

‘‘America whether it knows it or not, depends on quiet heroes like Jason Dunham,” Winter said.

A quiet hero from a different generation and another war, Barnum, deflected the praise from himself when it was his time to speak. He asked all combat wounded warriors in the audience to stand up and thanked them for their service.