Remember Our Heroes
Army Cpl. Stephen D. Shannon, 21, of Guttenberg, Iowa
Cpl. Shannon was assigned to the 397th Engineer Battalion, Wausau, Wis.; died Jan. 31, in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was hit by a rocket during combat operations Jan. 30 in Ramadi.
Soldier from Guttenberg killed in Iraq
By The Associated Press and Courier Staff
GUTTENBERG --- A former University of Northern Iowa student killed in combat in Iraq was unique, "one of a kind" from the first day of his life, his mother said Friday.
U.S. Army Reserve Cpl. Stephen D. Shannon was "by no means a saint," said his mother, Joan Shannon, "but definitely a hero."
Shannon, 21, of Guttenberg, was killed Wednesday in Iraq. The military on Friday confirmed his death, and his family, including his mother, father and three siblings, gathered at the family's rural Guttenberg home for a press conference to talk about his life.
Shannon was a combat engineer with the C Company, 397th Engineer Battalion, in Wausau, Wis. The unit arrived in Iraq in September, with a mission to clear roadside bombs. Shannon was performing those duties when the armored vehicle he was driving was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade on the driver's side, killing him.
His last trip home came in late September. He spent four days in Guttenberg, but they went by fast, Joan Shannon said.
"He was hardly ever at home, because he was out with his many friends all the time," she said.
Stephen was a popular student at Clayton Ridge High School in Guttenberg, where he graduated in 2003. He served as president of his junior class and was a musician and an athlete.
He attended UNI from 2003 to 2006, majoring in criminology.
His final call home to his family was about a week ago, the Shannons said, and it was unremarkable. It was a routine call --- Stephen faithfully called home each week and "he sounded good," his mother said.
"He had found his purpose. He liked what he was doing," she said.
Stephen's sister, Kathleen Shannon, 19, recently joined the Army's Reserve Officer Training Corps. She wants to become an Army nurse and said she is proud of her brother.
"I saw what he had become. I also wanted him to have to salute me when I became an officer," she said.
Shannon's body is expected to return to Guttenberg next week, and the family plans to have a viewing and funeral Mass. Joan Shannon said the public will be welcome.
"This kid was pretty special," she said. "If this is his 15 minutes of fame and people want to be a part of it, I have no restrictions."
Army Cpl. Stephen D. Shannon was killed in action on 1/30/07.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Q. Emul
Remember Our Heroes
Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Q. Emul, 19, of Vancouver, Wash.
Lance Cpl. Emul was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.; died Jan. 29 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.
Cpl. Adam Emul, who sister says wanted to serve, is killed in Iraq at age 19
By Brian Alexander
Seattle Times staff reporter
Lance Cpl. Adam Emul was a quiet and very independent teen, yet it still surprised his family when he came home from school one day and said he had signed up for the armed services.
"He was proud; it was something that he wanted to do," his sister, Maryann Mendiola, said Thursday. "We didn't like his decision at the time, but he just kept telling us that it was something that he wanted to do."
Cpl. Emul died in Iraq on Monday during operations in the Al Anbar province, the Department of Defense announced Thursday. Though the department didn't release the details of his death, his sister said he was hit by a bomb's explosion while on foot patrol.
Cpl. Emul, 19, graduated in 2005 from Hudson's Bay High School in Vancouver, Clark County, and went into basic training, his sister said.
He then went on to more advanced training and was only reunited with his family for about a month before he shipped out for Iraq in September.
Cpl. Emul was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force in Twentynine Palms, Calif., according to the Department of Defense.
Cpl. Emul moved to Vancouver from Saipan in 2003 with his sister, her family and his mother, Mendiola said.
"Me and my husband, we have kids of our own, and we wanted to expose our kids to what was outside of the islands. And we wanted Adam to be part of that," Mendiola said. "Living here is way, way different from living back home. Adam pretty much adjusted real well and made friends real fast."
Cpl. Emul loved playing basketball, listening to music and doing "other teenager things," his sister said. "He was still young."
While he was in Iraq, the family kept in touch mainly via e-mail and Cpl. Emul's MySpace page. He would ask for the family to send things, particularly chocolate, for himself, and big bags of candy for the kids in Iraq he met on patrol, Mendiola said.
Mendiola expected her brother to come home in March — he was looking forward to taking a vacation to Saipan to visit family and friends who still live there, she said.
"We just saw how happy he was, and we just supported him from there. But we constantly told him: 'Please be careful,' " Mendiola said. "He was always assuring us not to worry about him, and things were going fine."
In addition to Mendiola, Cpl. Emul is survived by four brothers and sisters: Frankie Quitugua, of Saipan; Clarissa Mendiola, of Vancouver; Mindy Quitugua, of Vancouver; and Christopher Quitugua of Saipan. His parents are Angelica Quitugua, of Vancouver, and Wayne Emul of Saipan. He was preceded in death by a brother, Roger Mendiola.
Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Q. Emul was killed in action on 01/29/07.
Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Q. Emul, 19, of Vancouver, Wash.
Lance Cpl. Emul was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.; died Jan. 29 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.
Cpl. Adam Emul, who sister says wanted to serve, is killed in Iraq at age 19
By Brian Alexander
Seattle Times staff reporter
Lance Cpl. Adam Emul was a quiet and very independent teen, yet it still surprised his family when he came home from school one day and said he had signed up for the armed services.
"He was proud; it was something that he wanted to do," his sister, Maryann Mendiola, said Thursday. "We didn't like his decision at the time, but he just kept telling us that it was something that he wanted to do."
Cpl. Emul died in Iraq on Monday during operations in the Al Anbar province, the Department of Defense announced Thursday. Though the department didn't release the details of his death, his sister said he was hit by a bomb's explosion while on foot patrol.
Cpl. Emul, 19, graduated in 2005 from Hudson's Bay High School in Vancouver, Clark County, and went into basic training, his sister said.
He then went on to more advanced training and was only reunited with his family for about a month before he shipped out for Iraq in September.
Cpl. Emul was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force in Twentynine Palms, Calif., according to the Department of Defense.
Cpl. Emul moved to Vancouver from Saipan in 2003 with his sister, her family and his mother, Mendiola said.
"Me and my husband, we have kids of our own, and we wanted to expose our kids to what was outside of the islands. And we wanted Adam to be part of that," Mendiola said. "Living here is way, way different from living back home. Adam pretty much adjusted real well and made friends real fast."
Cpl. Emul loved playing basketball, listening to music and doing "other teenager things," his sister said. "He was still young."
While he was in Iraq, the family kept in touch mainly via e-mail and Cpl. Emul's MySpace page. He would ask for the family to send things, particularly chocolate, for himself, and big bags of candy for the kids in Iraq he met on patrol, Mendiola said.
Mendiola expected her brother to come home in March — he was looking forward to taking a vacation to Saipan to visit family and friends who still live there, she said.
"We just saw how happy he was, and we just supported him from there. But we constantly told him: 'Please be careful,' " Mendiola said. "He was always assuring us not to worry about him, and things were going fine."
In addition to Mendiola, Cpl. Emul is survived by four brothers and sisters: Frankie Quitugua, of Saipan; Clarissa Mendiola, of Vancouver; Mindy Quitugua, of Vancouver; and Christopher Quitugua of Saipan. His parents are Angelica Quitugua, of Vancouver, and Wayne Emul of Saipan. He was preceded in death by a brother, Roger Mendiola.
Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Q. Emul was killed in action on 01/29/07.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony C. Melia
Remember Our Heroes
Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony C. Melia, 20, of Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Lance Cpl. Melia was assigned to Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died Jan. 27 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.
Thousand Oaks Marine killed in combat in Iraq
By Marjorie Hernandez, mhernandez@VenturaCountyStar.com
January 30, 2007
U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony C. Melia always made sure to call his family and friends every week or so between his missions in Iraq.
The 20-year-old Thousand Oaks native would tell them about his experiences in a foreign land and his hopes to return home safely. Most of all, he would tell them about the awesome responsibility he felt for his fellow Marines, family members said.
Melia died Saturday while conducting combat operations in Anbar province in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The news of his death was officially released Monday, but his family and friends were notified Friday evening.
He was extremely proud to wear his "dress blues," said his father, Mike Melia.
"He told me, ‘I lead by example.' I will be the first person to go in there and do it,' " Mike Melia said. "He felt such a sense of duty and responsibility for everyone around him. He was just an incredible human being."
Melia is the 15th Ventura County native killed while on duty in Iraq but the first fallen Marine from Thousand Oaks.
Mike Melia and his wife, Vicki, said their son's battalion was on foot patrol in Anbar when it came across an insurgent who was placing a rocket grenade in an abandoned vehicle. When the insurgent ran from the scene, some Marines were ordered to secure the premises, while the others searched for the insurgent.
"Anthony was walking in the field helping to look for the guy, and that's when a random bullet hit him and ended his life," said Mike Melia, wiping tears from his eyes.
Vicki Melia said it had been a few weeks since she had gotten a call from her son. The family was watching television Friday night when they heard a knock on the door.
"I got up and walked to the door, and I saw five men in uniform standing on my doorstep," Vicki Melia said in tears. "I just knew ... they say when you get a call home, he's injured. When you get a knock on the door, it's not good."
Body on its way back home
Melia's body was en route to a camp in Germany and from there will be flown to a military base in Dover, Del., where it will be prepared for burial, Vicki Melia said. The family expects his body to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport by the end of the week. Plans are being been made for a service at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, but a time and date have yet to be determined.
The Melias said their son dreamed of joining the military from the age of 10. At 17, Melia asked his parents to sign the enlistment form, but Mike Melia said he told his son to wait to make the decision when he turned 18.
About three months after his 2005 graduation, Melia, a defensive back and punt and kick returner for the Thousand Oaks High School Lancers, traded in his white-and-green number 6 football jersey for the Marines' blue uniform.
Melia quickly climbed the ranks and became the fire team squad leader for the Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Pendleton.
He was deployed to Iraq on Sept. 13. Melia was scheduled to come home at the end of February but had been extended to April.
On Monday afternoon, a steady stream of family members and friends came by the Melia home on Roundup Circle. Small American flags lined the front yard of the family's two-story home, while balloons with the words "Today, Tomorrow, and Forever ... I Love You" danced in the crisp wind.
Melia's parents and his sister, 22-year-old Nicole; his girlfriend, Jamie Chunko, 18; and friend Ryan Delung, 20, all sat in Melia's room Monday afternoon, shocked and numbed by the tragic news.
The small room by the garage is in the same condition as Melia left it a little more than a year ago, Vicki Melia said. A bright red-orange Marine Corps flag hung on one side of the room, while other flags honoring prisoners of war and a flag picturing part of a rifle hung above his futon bed.
‘It's a dangerous place to be'
Chunko, wrapped in one of the blankets, wiped tears from her face as she smiled and listened to Vicki Melia.
"He would always say, ‘Make sure you take care of Jamie,' " Vicki Melia said.
Before he was deployed, Chunko said Melia promised to marry her the day he returned.
"I told him I'm going to bring the reverend in the car when we pick him up," Chunko said.
Although he was proud of Melia's commitment to his battalion, Mike Melia said it was his son's compassion for others and gracious qualities that made him proud.
"He was just the brightest light there was," Mike Melia said. "He was a Marine, but he was much more than that. He was just an incredible human being."
The Melias have set up a fund in memory of their son. They are also planning to start a scholarship in his honor. Vicki Melia said administrators from Thousand Oaks High School have also discussed erecting a plaque for her son under the football field flagpole.
Although they are heartbroken, Mike and Vicki Melia say they hope people will continue to support the thousands of men and women who are still serving in Iraq.
They also hope young men and women who decide to go into the military think long and hard about their decision.
"They need to know it's a dangerous place to be, even now," Vicki Melia said. "They go in there wide-eyed ... but this is not fun and games. This is not a video game. This is reality."
For more information about the Anthony Melia Fund, call 384-5321. Donations can be sent to Santa Barbara Bank and Trust, c/o Adriana Sanchez at 4646 Adolfo Road, Camarillo, CA 93012.
Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony C. Melia was killed in action on 01/27/07.
Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony C. Melia, 20, of Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Lance Cpl. Melia was assigned to Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died Jan. 27 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.
Thousand Oaks Marine killed in combat in Iraq
By Marjorie Hernandez, mhernandez@VenturaCountyStar.com
January 30, 2007
U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony C. Melia always made sure to call his family and friends every week or so between his missions in Iraq.
The 20-year-old Thousand Oaks native would tell them about his experiences in a foreign land and his hopes to return home safely. Most of all, he would tell them about the awesome responsibility he felt for his fellow Marines, family members said.
Melia died Saturday while conducting combat operations in Anbar province in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The news of his death was officially released Monday, but his family and friends were notified Friday evening.
He was extremely proud to wear his "dress blues," said his father, Mike Melia.
"He told me, ‘I lead by example.' I will be the first person to go in there and do it,' " Mike Melia said. "He felt such a sense of duty and responsibility for everyone around him. He was just an incredible human being."
Melia is the 15th Ventura County native killed while on duty in Iraq but the first fallen Marine from Thousand Oaks.
Mike Melia and his wife, Vicki, said their son's battalion was on foot patrol in Anbar when it came across an insurgent who was placing a rocket grenade in an abandoned vehicle. When the insurgent ran from the scene, some Marines were ordered to secure the premises, while the others searched for the insurgent.
"Anthony was walking in the field helping to look for the guy, and that's when a random bullet hit him and ended his life," said Mike Melia, wiping tears from his eyes.
Vicki Melia said it had been a few weeks since she had gotten a call from her son. The family was watching television Friday night when they heard a knock on the door.
"I got up and walked to the door, and I saw five men in uniform standing on my doorstep," Vicki Melia said in tears. "I just knew ... they say when you get a call home, he's injured. When you get a knock on the door, it's not good."
Body on its way back home
Melia's body was en route to a camp in Germany and from there will be flown to a military base in Dover, Del., where it will be prepared for burial, Vicki Melia said. The family expects his body to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport by the end of the week. Plans are being been made for a service at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, but a time and date have yet to be determined.
The Melias said their son dreamed of joining the military from the age of 10. At 17, Melia asked his parents to sign the enlistment form, but Mike Melia said he told his son to wait to make the decision when he turned 18.
About three months after his 2005 graduation, Melia, a defensive back and punt and kick returner for the Thousand Oaks High School Lancers, traded in his white-and-green number 6 football jersey for the Marines' blue uniform.
Melia quickly climbed the ranks and became the fire team squad leader for the Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Pendleton.
He was deployed to Iraq on Sept. 13. Melia was scheduled to come home at the end of February but had been extended to April.
On Monday afternoon, a steady stream of family members and friends came by the Melia home on Roundup Circle. Small American flags lined the front yard of the family's two-story home, while balloons with the words "Today, Tomorrow, and Forever ... I Love You" danced in the crisp wind.
Melia's parents and his sister, 22-year-old Nicole; his girlfriend, Jamie Chunko, 18; and friend Ryan Delung, 20, all sat in Melia's room Monday afternoon, shocked and numbed by the tragic news.
The small room by the garage is in the same condition as Melia left it a little more than a year ago, Vicki Melia said. A bright red-orange Marine Corps flag hung on one side of the room, while other flags honoring prisoners of war and a flag picturing part of a rifle hung above his futon bed.
‘It's a dangerous place to be'
Chunko, wrapped in one of the blankets, wiped tears from her face as she smiled and listened to Vicki Melia.
"He would always say, ‘Make sure you take care of Jamie,' " Vicki Melia said.
Before he was deployed, Chunko said Melia promised to marry her the day he returned.
"I told him I'm going to bring the reverend in the car when we pick him up," Chunko said.
Although he was proud of Melia's commitment to his battalion, Mike Melia said it was his son's compassion for others and gracious qualities that made him proud.
"He was just the brightest light there was," Mike Melia said. "He was a Marine, but he was much more than that. He was just an incredible human being."
The Melias have set up a fund in memory of their son. They are also planning to start a scholarship in his honor. Vicki Melia said administrators from Thousand Oaks High School have also discussed erecting a plaque for her son under the football field flagpole.
Although they are heartbroken, Mike and Vicki Melia say they hope people will continue to support the thousands of men and women who are still serving in Iraq.
They also hope young men and women who decide to go into the military think long and hard about their decision.
"They need to know it's a dangerous place to be, even now," Vicki Melia said. "They go in there wide-eyed ... but this is not fun and games. This is not a video game. This is reality."
For more information about the Anthony Melia Fund, call 384-5321. Donations can be sent to Santa Barbara Bank and Trust, c/o Adriana Sanchez at 4646 Adolfo Road, Camarillo, CA 93012.
Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony C. Melia was killed in action on 01/27/07.
Army Sgt. Mickel D. Garrigus
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. Mickel D. Garrigus, 24, of Elma, Wash.
Sgt. Garrigus was assigned to the 543rd Military Police Company, 91st Police Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.; died Jan. 27 of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat patrol in Taji, Iraq.
Sgt. Mickel David Garrigus, Army sergeant from Elma, killed by explosion in Iraq
By Carol M. Ostrom
Seattle Times staff reporter
When he called home Friday from Iraq to his family in Elma, Grays Harbor County, Sgt. Mickel David Garrigus had but a few precious moments on the telephone with his year-old son Ethan. Smiling and gurgling, Ethan accidentally hung up the phone, and the connection was lost.
The next day, Saturday, Jan. 27, Sgt. Garrigus was killed by a roadside bomb in the town of Taji near Baghdad. He was 24.
Sgt. Garrigus was a military police officer with the 10th Mountain Division, 543rd Military Police Company, 91st Police Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade based at Fort Drum, N.Y., and he was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq.
This week, Elma residents are mourning the loss by raising money so that Sgt. Garrigus' mother and stepfather, Deadra and David Garrigus, can travel to his burial — not yet scheduled — at Arlington National Cemetery. The military will pay only for his wife, Natasha, and their son to make the trip.
"Everybody in the community is trying so hard," his mother said Tuesday. "They're bonding together to do fundraisers to get some money together."
Mickel Garrigus was born Dec. 15, 1982, in Tacoma. When he was 4, the family moved to Elma, where he graduated from Elma High School in 2001. He enlisted soon after graduation.
He re-enlisted after his first tour, which took him to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and Iraq. Offered a chance for a stateside job, he refused, his mother said. Instead, she said he told her: "I came here to fight for my country, and that's what I'm going to do."
In the military, he grew up quickly, from a fun-loving, soccer-playing kid into an Army sergeant, a military-police officer charged with protecting others.
"That was his life; he totally enjoyed the military" and serving in Iraq, his mother said. A few weeks ago, he asked his family to send clothing and shoes for Iraqi children.
His wife, who has been living with her family in Carson City, Nev., said fatherhood transformed her once "kind of wild" husband into a family man who set up insurance and a trust fund for Ethan and for his wife's schooling.
Other soldiers told her that the day her husband died, he had ordered a fellow soldier to wear all of her protective gear — which later saved her from the same blast of shrapnel that killed him.
Other survivors include his siblings, Matthew and Nichole Garrigus and Kyla Ostenson, all of Elma.
A local memorial service is set for 3 p.m. Saturday at the Assembly of God Church in McCleary, east of Elma. A donation account has been established through any Timberland Bank location.
Army Sgt. Mickel D. Garrigus was killed in action on 01/27/07.
Army Sgt. Mickel D. Garrigus, 24, of Elma, Wash.
Sgt. Garrigus was assigned to the 543rd Military Police Company, 91st Police Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.; died Jan. 27 of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat patrol in Taji, Iraq.
Sgt. Mickel David Garrigus, Army sergeant from Elma, killed by explosion in Iraq
By Carol M. Ostrom
Seattle Times staff reporter
When he called home Friday from Iraq to his family in Elma, Grays Harbor County, Sgt. Mickel David Garrigus had but a few precious moments on the telephone with his year-old son Ethan. Smiling and gurgling, Ethan accidentally hung up the phone, and the connection was lost.
The next day, Saturday, Jan. 27, Sgt. Garrigus was killed by a roadside bomb in the town of Taji near Baghdad. He was 24.
Sgt. Garrigus was a military police officer with the 10th Mountain Division, 543rd Military Police Company, 91st Police Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade based at Fort Drum, N.Y., and he was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq.
This week, Elma residents are mourning the loss by raising money so that Sgt. Garrigus' mother and stepfather, Deadra and David Garrigus, can travel to his burial — not yet scheduled — at Arlington National Cemetery. The military will pay only for his wife, Natasha, and their son to make the trip.
"Everybody in the community is trying so hard," his mother said Tuesday. "They're bonding together to do fundraisers to get some money together."
Mickel Garrigus was born Dec. 15, 1982, in Tacoma. When he was 4, the family moved to Elma, where he graduated from Elma High School in 2001. He enlisted soon after graduation.
He re-enlisted after his first tour, which took him to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and Iraq. Offered a chance for a stateside job, he refused, his mother said. Instead, she said he told her: "I came here to fight for my country, and that's what I'm going to do."
In the military, he grew up quickly, from a fun-loving, soccer-playing kid into an Army sergeant, a military-police officer charged with protecting others.
"That was his life; he totally enjoyed the military" and serving in Iraq, his mother said. A few weeks ago, he asked his family to send clothing and shoes for Iraqi children.
His wife, who has been living with her family in Carson City, Nev., said fatherhood transformed her once "kind of wild" husband into a family man who set up insurance and a trust fund for Ethan and for his wife's schooling.
Other soldiers told her that the day her husband died, he had ordered a fellow soldier to wear all of her protective gear — which later saved her from the same blast of shrapnel that killed him.
Other survivors include his siblings, Matthew and Nichole Garrigus and Kyla Ostenson, all of Elma.
A local memorial service is set for 3 p.m. Saturday at the Assembly of God Church in McCleary, east of Elma. A donation account has been established through any Timberland Bank location.
Army Sgt. Mickel D. Garrigus was killed in action on 01/27/07.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Army Maj. Alan R. Johnson
Remember Our Heroes
Army Maj. Alan R. Johnson, 44, of Yakima, Wash.
Major Johnson was assigned to the 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion, Tonawanda, N.Y.; died Jan. 26, 2007 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Muqdadiyah the same day.
Slain soldier lived for military, parents say
By James MacPherson
The Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D. — Alan Johnson left the farm where he grew up to become a soldier, and he lived for military service, his parents say.
Johnson, 44, who joined the Army National Guard in North Dakota and later became an Army Reserve major, was killed Jan 26 by a roadside bomb in Iraq, the Pentagon said.
His mother, Mary Hansen, who lives in Sanborn, said she learned of his death Jan. 27.
“It’s still a bad dream, and it’s getting worse,” Hansen said. “He was a good son.”
A statement from the Pentagon said Johnson, of Yakima, Wash., died of injuries when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee in Muqdadiyah, Iraq. The statement said Johnson was assigned to the 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion of Tonawanda, N.Y.
Four others were injured in the bomb attack, some seriously, Hansen said.
Johnson grew up in Montpelier, in south central North Dakota, and graduated from high school there in 1981.
“He grew up raising crops and horses and running tractors, and then he went to college,” said his father, Wilfred “Sonny” Johnson of Montpelier.
Alan joined the Guard in North Dakota while in high school, his mother said.
“He was in (the military) 26 years,” Hansen said. “He lived for the service.”
Johnson specialized in Army engineering when he joined the Guard in North Dakota, and he was a member of the Washington state National Guard before transferring to the Army Reserve as a chemical officer and a civil affairs specialist, military officials said.
Hansen said her son lived in Yakima with his wife, Victoria, and a stepdaughter, Megan. She last spoke to him on Christmas. “We didn’t have time to talk about an awful lot,” she said.
It was his first tour of duty in Iraq, Hansen said. The military said he was deployed to Iraq in April 2006.
“He ordinarily would have been coming home in April,” his mother said.
Sonny Johnson said his son “was a good kid, good in school and got good grades. And he loved the Guard.”
Johnson said his son worked as corrections officer at a prison in Yakima. The two last spoke on Alan Johnson’s birthday Dec. 30.
“We talked about what he was doing, and he said they were doing a good job out there,” Sonny Johnson said.
Johnson will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. A memorial service is being planned in Jamestown, N.D., his mother said.
His death brings to 15 the number of U.S. service members from North Dakota or serving with North Dakota military units who have been reported killed while on duty in Iraq, as of Jan. 30. Four others were killed in Afghanistan.
North Dakota Army National Guard officials said Johnson enlisted in the state Guard’s 141st Engineer Combat Battalion, Company B, based in Jamestown, in October 1980.
“We grieve the news of his death as our thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family during this difficult time,” said Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, the state Guard commander. “His service and sacrifice to our nation will always be honored and remembered.”
Besides his wife, stepdaughter and parents, Johnson is survived by brothers Wayne Johnson of Brookville, M.D., Bryan Johnson of Bozeman, Mont., Jeremy Hansen of Eckelson, and sisters Marilyn Waddington of Harrah, Wash., and Susan Roemmich of Spiritwood, N.D., the military said.
A statement from the family, released through the Reserve, said Johnson “lived for God, his family and his country” and was respected by all who knew him.
“As a husband, he was a leader, supporter, protector and best friend — he was a knight in shining armor,” the statement said. “As a father, he mirrored the image of God in his ability to love unconditionally. He has positively affected the lives of many, and his influence will continue to be felt for years to come.”
Memorial service held for slain soldier
The Associated Press
JAMESTOWN, N.D. — A North Dakota native who was killed while serving in Iraq was remembered by family and friends Feb. 10 as a patriot and a leader.
Army Reserve Maj. Alan Johnson, 44, of Yakima, Wash., died Jan. 26. Military officials said a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee in Muqdadiyah, killing Johnson and injuring four others.
Johnson was assigned to the 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion of Tonawanda, N.Y. He was deployed to Iraq in April 2006. It was his first tour of duty.
“Alan lived and breathed his service to God, his family and his country every day,” Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, commander of the North Dakota Army National Guard, said during Saturday’s memorial service.
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders motorcycle group stood outside First United Methodist Church in subzero temperatures, holding American flags. Those who spoke during the service inside the church described Johnson as a humble man, and a person of deep faith.
“How many other lives has he impacted that people don’t know about?” asked his brother, Bryan, who told how Johnson had helped him in his personal struggles. “He’s a soldier for the United States. He gave his life willingly, but he’s also a soldier for Jesus Christ.”
Gov. John Hoeven spoke of Johnson’s work in Iraq as a civil affairs officer, helping to rebuild the country and win the trust of its people.
“Alan’s was a life of service to family and nation and even the people of another nation,” he said.
Hoeven presented Johnson’s wife, Victoria, and parents, Wilfred Johnson and Mary Ann Hansen, with North Dakota flags that had been flown over the state Capitol in the soldier’s honor. Rep. Earl Pomeroy and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., presented the family with three American flags that had flown over the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
Johnson was born in Jamestown and grew up in Montpelier, in south central North Dakota. He graduated from high school there in 1981. He joined the National Guard in North Dakota, serving in Jamestown and Carrington units. His parents and two of his siblings live in North Dakota.
Johnson specialized in Army engineering when he joined the Guard in North Dakota, and he was a member of the Washington National Guard before transferring to the Army Reserve as a chemical officer and a civil affairs specialist, according to the military. He worked as a county corrections officer in Yakima, Wash.
Johnson will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14.
“His grave will be marked by a white cross, and that white cross will be a symbol of so much,” Dorgan said.
Johnson’s death brought to 15 the number of U.S. service members from North Dakota or serving with North Dakota military units who have been reported killed while on duty in Iraq. Four others have been killed in Afghanistan.
Johnson is survived by his wife and stepdaughter Megan, both of Yakima; his father from Montpelier and his mother from Sanborn; his brothers, Wayne Johnson, of Brookville, Md., Bryan Johnson, of Bozeman, Mont., and Jeremy Hansen, of Eckelson; and his sisters, Marilyn Waddington, of Harrah, Wash., and Susan Roemmich, of Spiritwood.
Army Maj. Alan R. Johnson was killed in action on 01/26/07.
Army Maj. Alan R. Johnson, 44, of Yakima, Wash.
Major Johnson was assigned to the 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion, Tonawanda, N.Y.; died Jan. 26, 2007 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Muqdadiyah the same day.
Slain soldier lived for military, parents say
By James MacPherson
The Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D. — Alan Johnson left the farm where he grew up to become a soldier, and he lived for military service, his parents say.
Johnson, 44, who joined the Army National Guard in North Dakota and later became an Army Reserve major, was killed Jan 26 by a roadside bomb in Iraq, the Pentagon said.
His mother, Mary Hansen, who lives in Sanborn, said she learned of his death Jan. 27.
“It’s still a bad dream, and it’s getting worse,” Hansen said. “He was a good son.”
A statement from the Pentagon said Johnson, of Yakima, Wash., died of injuries when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee in Muqdadiyah, Iraq. The statement said Johnson was assigned to the 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion of Tonawanda, N.Y.
Four others were injured in the bomb attack, some seriously, Hansen said.
Johnson grew up in Montpelier, in south central North Dakota, and graduated from high school there in 1981.
“He grew up raising crops and horses and running tractors, and then he went to college,” said his father, Wilfred “Sonny” Johnson of Montpelier.
Alan joined the Guard in North Dakota while in high school, his mother said.
“He was in (the military) 26 years,” Hansen said. “He lived for the service.”
Johnson specialized in Army engineering when he joined the Guard in North Dakota, and he was a member of the Washington state National Guard before transferring to the Army Reserve as a chemical officer and a civil affairs specialist, military officials said.
Hansen said her son lived in Yakima with his wife, Victoria, and a stepdaughter, Megan. She last spoke to him on Christmas. “We didn’t have time to talk about an awful lot,” she said.
It was his first tour of duty in Iraq, Hansen said. The military said he was deployed to Iraq in April 2006.
“He ordinarily would have been coming home in April,” his mother said.
Sonny Johnson said his son “was a good kid, good in school and got good grades. And he loved the Guard.”
Johnson said his son worked as corrections officer at a prison in Yakima. The two last spoke on Alan Johnson’s birthday Dec. 30.
“We talked about what he was doing, and he said they were doing a good job out there,” Sonny Johnson said.
Johnson will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. A memorial service is being planned in Jamestown, N.D., his mother said.
His death brings to 15 the number of U.S. service members from North Dakota or serving with North Dakota military units who have been reported killed while on duty in Iraq, as of Jan. 30. Four others were killed in Afghanistan.
North Dakota Army National Guard officials said Johnson enlisted in the state Guard’s 141st Engineer Combat Battalion, Company B, based in Jamestown, in October 1980.
“We grieve the news of his death as our thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family during this difficult time,” said Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, the state Guard commander. “His service and sacrifice to our nation will always be honored and remembered.”
Besides his wife, stepdaughter and parents, Johnson is survived by brothers Wayne Johnson of Brookville, M.D., Bryan Johnson of Bozeman, Mont., Jeremy Hansen of Eckelson, and sisters Marilyn Waddington of Harrah, Wash., and Susan Roemmich of Spiritwood, N.D., the military said.
A statement from the family, released through the Reserve, said Johnson “lived for God, his family and his country” and was respected by all who knew him.
“As a husband, he was a leader, supporter, protector and best friend — he was a knight in shining armor,” the statement said. “As a father, he mirrored the image of God in his ability to love unconditionally. He has positively affected the lives of many, and his influence will continue to be felt for years to come.”
Memorial service held for slain soldier
The Associated Press
JAMESTOWN, N.D. — A North Dakota native who was killed while serving in Iraq was remembered by family and friends Feb. 10 as a patriot and a leader.
Army Reserve Maj. Alan Johnson, 44, of Yakima, Wash., died Jan. 26. Military officials said a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee in Muqdadiyah, killing Johnson and injuring four others.
Johnson was assigned to the 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion of Tonawanda, N.Y. He was deployed to Iraq in April 2006. It was his first tour of duty.
“Alan lived and breathed his service to God, his family and his country every day,” Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, commander of the North Dakota Army National Guard, said during Saturday’s memorial service.
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders motorcycle group stood outside First United Methodist Church in subzero temperatures, holding American flags. Those who spoke during the service inside the church described Johnson as a humble man, and a person of deep faith.
“How many other lives has he impacted that people don’t know about?” asked his brother, Bryan, who told how Johnson had helped him in his personal struggles. “He’s a soldier for the United States. He gave his life willingly, but he’s also a soldier for Jesus Christ.”
Gov. John Hoeven spoke of Johnson’s work in Iraq as a civil affairs officer, helping to rebuild the country and win the trust of its people.
“Alan’s was a life of service to family and nation and even the people of another nation,” he said.
Hoeven presented Johnson’s wife, Victoria, and parents, Wilfred Johnson and Mary Ann Hansen, with North Dakota flags that had been flown over the state Capitol in the soldier’s honor. Rep. Earl Pomeroy and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., presented the family with three American flags that had flown over the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
Johnson was born in Jamestown and grew up in Montpelier, in south central North Dakota. He graduated from high school there in 1981. He joined the National Guard in North Dakota, serving in Jamestown and Carrington units. His parents and two of his siblings live in North Dakota.
Johnson specialized in Army engineering when he joined the Guard in North Dakota, and he was a member of the Washington National Guard before transferring to the Army Reserve as a chemical officer and a civil affairs specialist, according to the military. He worked as a county corrections officer in Yakima, Wash.
Johnson will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14.
“His grave will be marked by a white cross, and that white cross will be a symbol of so much,” Dorgan said.
Johnson’s death brought to 15 the number of U.S. service members from North Dakota or serving with North Dakota military units who have been reported killed while on duty in Iraq. Four others have been killed in Afghanistan.
Johnson is survived by his wife and stepdaughter Megan, both of Yakima; his father from Montpelier and his mother from Sanborn; his brothers, Wayne Johnson, of Brookville, Md., Bryan Johnson, of Bozeman, Mont., and Jeremy Hansen, of Eckelson; and his sisters, Marilyn Waddington, of Harrah, Wash., and Susan Roemmich, of Spiritwood.
Army Maj. Alan R. Johnson was killed in action on 01/26/07.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Army Sgt. 1st Class Keith A. Callahan
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. 1st Class Keith A. Callahan, 31, of McClure, Pa.
SFC Callahan was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Jan. 24 of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was conducting a combat patrol south of Baghdad.
FayObsever.com --An 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper was killed south of Baghdad when a roadside bomb was detonated near him, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.
He is the first soldier killed since the 2nd Brigade Combat Team deployed to Iraq as part of the surge of troops meant to secure the Iraqi capital.
Sgt. 1st Class Keith A. Callahan, 31, a platoon sergeant with 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, was covering his men at a road crossing when he was killed, 82nd officials said.
"Keith Callahan’s death is a tragic loss to our Task Force, and our thoughts and prayers go to Sgt. 1st Class Callahan’s family," said Lt. Col. Ross E. Davidson, 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment.
The announcement comes as fighting rages between U.S. and Iraqi forces and insurgents in Baghdad.
Callahan is survived by his wife, Dody; sons, Devin and Brady; his daughter, Brooke; and a stepson, Tyler.
The family declined to speak to reporters Thursday but did release a statement through the 82nd Airborne Division.
"Please respect our privacy as we try to gather up the pieces of our broken hearts and carry on our lives in Keith’s name," his wife, Dody, said in the statement. She said her husband was a husband, father and a true American hero.
"Keith loved his soldiers and his dedication to duty lasted to the end shown by the fact that he gave his life to protect his soldiers," Dody Callahan said in the statement. "He would now want his soldiers to bravely forge ahead in this mission and continue his legacy."
Callahan was from McClure, Pa. He joined the Army in 1996 and joined the 82nd Airborne Division in October 2001.
Callahan won two Fort Bragg boxing titles, earning the nickname "Bam-Bam" Callahan, his family said. This was his fourth deployment to Iraq. His military awards and decorations include the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star medal.
A memorial service will be held for him in Iraq, 82nd officials said.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Keith A. Callahan was killed in action on 1/24/07.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Keith A. Callahan, 31, of McClure, Pa.
SFC Callahan was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Jan. 24 of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was conducting a combat patrol south of Baghdad.
FayObsever.com --An 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper was killed south of Baghdad when a roadside bomb was detonated near him, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.
He is the first soldier killed since the 2nd Brigade Combat Team deployed to Iraq as part of the surge of troops meant to secure the Iraqi capital.
Sgt. 1st Class Keith A. Callahan, 31, a platoon sergeant with 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, was covering his men at a road crossing when he was killed, 82nd officials said.
"Keith Callahan’s death is a tragic loss to our Task Force, and our thoughts and prayers go to Sgt. 1st Class Callahan’s family," said Lt. Col. Ross E. Davidson, 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment.
The announcement comes as fighting rages between U.S. and Iraqi forces and insurgents in Baghdad.
Callahan is survived by his wife, Dody; sons, Devin and Brady; his daughter, Brooke; and a stepson, Tyler.
The family declined to speak to reporters Thursday but did release a statement through the 82nd Airborne Division.
"Please respect our privacy as we try to gather up the pieces of our broken hearts and carry on our lives in Keith’s name," his wife, Dody, said in the statement. She said her husband was a husband, father and a true American hero.
"Keith loved his soldiers and his dedication to duty lasted to the end shown by the fact that he gave his life to protect his soldiers," Dody Callahan said in the statement. "He would now want his soldiers to bravely forge ahead in this mission and continue his legacy."
Callahan was from McClure, Pa. He joined the Army in 1996 and joined the 82nd Airborne Division in October 2001.
Callahan won two Fort Bragg boxing titles, earning the nickname "Bam-Bam" Callahan, his family said. This was his fourth deployment to Iraq. His military awards and decorations include the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star medal.
A memorial service will be held for him in Iraq, 82nd officials said.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Keith A. Callahan was killed in action on 1/24/07.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Marine Sgt. Michael M. Kashkoush
Remember Our Heroes
Marine Sgt. Michael M. Kashkoush, 24, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Sgt. Kashkoush was assigned to 3rd Intelligence Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan; died Jan. 23 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.
WKYC.com -- CHAGRIN FALLS -- Word came down Thursday that the third serviceman from our area has died in as many days. The latest causality, 24-year old Sgt. Michael Kashkoush, is from Chagrin Falls, and graduated from CFHS in 2001.
The U.S. Department of Defense reports he died January 23rd from wounds received in Iraq's Al Anbar province.
Mark Iammarino was his high school history teacher and coach. Just hours after word came down, his students started talking.
"I've heard it already today, students want to know who he was, what he was like, what he did, and look at his pictures in the yearbook," Iammarino said.
What they'll hear are stories of a bright but quiet alum.
"Mike was one that just about everyone on the staff knew," said Chagrin superintendent David Axner.
He helped take the football and wrestling teams to winning seasons, then graduated and enlisted in the Marines.
"He seemed like a kid where that [the military] would appeal to him. Discipline of military, and possibility to represent the country," Iammarino said.
He was a member of the 3rd Intelligence Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan--before taking position in Iraq.
His family tells Channel 3:
[We} would like to thank the communities of Chagrin Falls and Cleveland for the support and kindness shown us during this very difficult time. Michael was an honorable young man who served his corps and his country with the utmost pride and respect.
Funeral arrangements for Marine Sgt. Kashkoush have not yet been arranged.
Marine Sgt. Michael M. Kashkoush was killed in action on 1/23/07.
Marine Sgt. Michael M. Kashkoush, 24, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Sgt. Kashkoush was assigned to 3rd Intelligence Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan; died Jan. 23 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.
WKYC.com -- CHAGRIN FALLS -- Word came down Thursday that the third serviceman from our area has died in as many days. The latest causality, 24-year old Sgt. Michael Kashkoush, is from Chagrin Falls, and graduated from CFHS in 2001.
The U.S. Department of Defense reports he died January 23rd from wounds received in Iraq's Al Anbar province.
Mark Iammarino was his high school history teacher and coach. Just hours after word came down, his students started talking.
"I've heard it already today, students want to know who he was, what he was like, what he did, and look at his pictures in the yearbook," Iammarino said.
What they'll hear are stories of a bright but quiet alum.
"Mike was one that just about everyone on the staff knew," said Chagrin superintendent David Axner.
He helped take the football and wrestling teams to winning seasons, then graduated and enlisted in the Marines.
"He seemed like a kid where that [the military] would appeal to him. Discipline of military, and possibility to represent the country," Iammarino said.
He was a member of the 3rd Intelligence Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan--before taking position in Iraq.
His family tells Channel 3:
[We} would like to thank the communities of Chagrin Falls and Cleveland for the support and kindness shown us during this very difficult time. Michael was an honorable young man who served his corps and his country with the utmost pride and respect.
Funeral arrangements for Marine Sgt. Kashkoush have not yet been arranged.
Marine Sgt. Michael M. Kashkoush was killed in action on 1/23/07.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Army Spc. Nicholas P. Brown
Remember Our Heroes
Army Spc. Nicholas P. Brown, 24, of Huber Heights, Ohio
Spc Brown was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Bliss, Texas; died Jan. 22, 2007 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
Brown is survived by his wife, Sara, 21, of Dayton and their son, Nicholas Brown II, born January 14, 2007. Sara moved from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Dayton during her pregnancy to be closer to family while her husband was deployed, the family said.
Days before his death, Brown came home to Dayton from Iraq to see his son.
"It was a blessing that he was able to briefly see his newborn son Nicholas before returning to Iraq" last week, Brown's family said in a prepared statement. "Sara will treasure forever those moments together."
The infantryman was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Bliss, according to the Defense Department. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
"Nick was very proud to serve his country," his family said. "He enjoyed playing pool, being with friends and taking care of his family."
Brown joined the Army Reserves in 2001 before switching to active duty in November 2004, according to his family.
He deployed to Iraq in late October, said Jean Offutt, public affairs officer at Fort Bliss. Deployments usually last one year, she said.
"We appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, and support, but ask that you allow us this time to grieve in private," the family said.
Army Spc. Nicholas P. Brown was killed in action on 1/22/07.
Army Spc. Nicholas P. Brown, 24, of Huber Heights, Ohio
Spc Brown was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Bliss, Texas; died Jan. 22, 2007 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
Brown is survived by his wife, Sara, 21, of Dayton and their son, Nicholas Brown II, born January 14, 2007. Sara moved from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Dayton during her pregnancy to be closer to family while her husband was deployed, the family said.
Days before his death, Brown came home to Dayton from Iraq to see his son.
"It was a blessing that he was able to briefly see his newborn son Nicholas before returning to Iraq" last week, Brown's family said in a prepared statement. "Sara will treasure forever those moments together."
The infantryman was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Bliss, according to the Defense Department. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
"Nick was very proud to serve his country," his family said. "He enjoyed playing pool, being with friends and taking care of his family."
Brown joined the Army Reserves in 2001 before switching to active duty in November 2004, according to his family.
He deployed to Iraq in late October, said Jean Offutt, public affairs officer at Fort Bliss. Deployments usually last one year, she said.
"We appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, and support, but ask that you allow us this time to grieve in private," the family said.
Army Spc. Nicholas P. Brown was killed in action on 1/22/07.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Matus
Remember Our Heroes
Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Matus, 19, of Chetek, Wis.
Lance Cpl. Matus was assigned to Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died Jan. 21 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.
WFRV.com -- Lance Cpl. Andrew Matus, 19, graduated in 2005 from Weyerhaeuser High School and had already signed up to be a Marine before that, his father Gary Matus of Chetek said when contacted Monday evening.
He said he had been told his son was shot in Anbar Province. The Pentagon had not yet released any details on the death. The family was informed of the death Sunday, relatives said.
"He was a good kid," said the Marine's grandmother Virginia Matus of Bruce. "He wanted to go. That's what he wanted."
Gary Matus said many family members have served in the military. He said he and his sister are Army veterans, a brother served in Vietnam and his mother and father also served.
As for his son, "he wanted to be a Marine, mainly," he said.
He is the 68th Wisconsin member of the military to die in the Iraq war.
Matus played football in his sophomore year of high school and enjoyed weightlifting, mechanics, hunting and fishing, his mother, Donna Matus, said.
Teachers at Weyerhaeuser said he was creative and good with his hands and was named "Technology Education Student of the Year" there in 2005.
"He's probably the best mechanic I ever saw," said Richard Manor, a technology education teacher at Weyerhaeuser. "If you needed a part, he'd make the parts. He was very talented."
Matus also designed and built furniture and games to raise money for community programs.
"If anybody ever asked him to do anything, he'd be more than happy to help out," Todd Solberg, the school's principal, said.
Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Matus was killed in action on 1/21/07.
Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Matus, 19, of Chetek, Wis.
Lance Cpl. Matus was assigned to Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died Jan. 21 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.
WFRV.com -- Lance Cpl. Andrew Matus, 19, graduated in 2005 from Weyerhaeuser High School and had already signed up to be a Marine before that, his father Gary Matus of Chetek said when contacted Monday evening.
He said he had been told his son was shot in Anbar Province. The Pentagon had not yet released any details on the death. The family was informed of the death Sunday, relatives said.
"He was a good kid," said the Marine's grandmother Virginia Matus of Bruce. "He wanted to go. That's what he wanted."
Gary Matus said many family members have served in the military. He said he and his sister are Army veterans, a brother served in Vietnam and his mother and father also served.
As for his son, "he wanted to be a Marine, mainly," he said.
He is the 68th Wisconsin member of the military to die in the Iraq war.
Matus played football in his sophomore year of high school and enjoyed weightlifting, mechanics, hunting and fishing, his mother, Donna Matus, said.
Teachers at Weyerhaeuser said he was creative and good with his hands and was named "Technology Education Student of the Year" there in 2005.
"He's probably the best mechanic I ever saw," said Richard Manor, a technology education teacher at Weyerhaeuser. "If you needed a part, he'd make the parts. He was very talented."
Matus also designed and built furniture and games to raise money for community programs.
"If anybody ever asked him to do anything, he'd be more than happy to help out," Todd Solberg, the school's principal, said.
Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Matus was killed in action on 1/21/07.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown, 43, of Little Rock, Ark.
SFC Brown was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Ark.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
It was Gary Brown’s first day back on duty after returning Jan. 13 from a family visit in Arkansas, his brother said. The late soldier grew up in Nashville, Ark., and was living with his wife and two stepdaughters in Little Rock, his brother said.
Gary Brown, who also served in Desert Storm, began his latest tour in April with training in the U.S. before going to Iraq in the late summer, his brother said. He worked for a tire supply company.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown, 43, of Little Rock, Ark.
SFC Brown was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Ark.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
It was Gary Brown’s first day back on duty after returning Jan. 13 from a family visit in Arkansas, his brother said. The late soldier grew up in Nashville, Ark., and was living with his wife and two stepdaughters in Little Rock, his brother said.
Gary Brown, who also served in Desert Storm, began his latest tour in April with training in the U.S. before going to Iraq in the late summer, his brother said. He worked for a tire supply company.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Staff Sgt. Floyd E. Lake
Remember Our Heroes
Army Staff Sgt. Floyd E. Lake, 43, of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
SSgt Lake was assigned to the Virgin Islands Army National Guard, Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
By Patricia M. Murret
Capital News Service
Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007
WASHINGTON - Sgt. 1st Class Floyd E. Lake, a logistics coordinator with the Army National Guard, was so good at what he did that, when he joined the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va., three years ago, he filled the shoes of someone two ranks higher.
Lake, 43, a Beltsville resident since December 2004, died Saturday, one of 12 soldiers killed in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crash northeast of Baghdad, Department of Defense officials confirmed Wednesday.
He is survived by his wife, Linda, and five children, J'Nelle, Floyd Jr., Andre, Keeshawn and Tamile.
"He was a wonderful individual. Having him around was a charm," said his commanding officer, Sgt. Maj. Tony Davis.
Colleagues remember Lake as a dedicated father who often could be found attending his children's elementary school activities or running and exercising with his children, Andre and Tamile, who lived with him in Beltsville.
An outdoorsman and "fitness fanatic," Lake took pride in his health and his many physical fitness achievement medals. He repeatedly scored "master fitness" level in military physical training tests, said his civilian boss, Felicia Barrett, logistics support branch chief in the Army National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington.
"He was always out in front, beating most of us in physical fitness tests," Davis said.
A native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Lake spoke often of his home, colleagues said, treating them to island food he prepared himself at home and stories of buying sweet apples at the open market.
Lake graduated from Ivana Eud Kean High School in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in 1984, National Guard officials said.
A career soldier, he enlisted in the Army in 1988, and served two years as a stock record clerk at Fort Polk, La., before completing his tour of duty.
In 1990, Lake joined the Virgin Islands Army National Guard, and served as the material control and handling supervisor for the 662nd Field Service Co. on St. Thomas. In 1991, he moved to St. Croix, where he served as the warehouse foreman at the office of the U.S. Property and Fiscal Office.
In 2004, Lake transferred to the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, where he was the logistics noncommissioned officer at the Readiness Center and was responsible for maintaining a $3 million purchasing budget and providing computers, supplies and automation equipment to more than 250 soldiers in three divisions.
"He took care of everything here," said Barrett. "He would do anything you asked him. He took care of his missions and was meticulous about his duties."
Barrett remembers Lake as an easygoing, soft-spoken man, who was not a socialite, but very friendly, and always promised to bring her island jewelry.
Lake deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, in October 2006
Army Staff Sgt. Floyd E. Lake was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Staff Sgt. Floyd E. Lake, 43, of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
SSgt Lake was assigned to the Virgin Islands Army National Guard, Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
By Patricia M. Murret
Capital News Service
Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007
WASHINGTON - Sgt. 1st Class Floyd E. Lake, a logistics coordinator with the Army National Guard, was so good at what he did that, when he joined the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va., three years ago, he filled the shoes of someone two ranks higher.
Lake, 43, a Beltsville resident since December 2004, died Saturday, one of 12 soldiers killed in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crash northeast of Baghdad, Department of Defense officials confirmed Wednesday.
He is survived by his wife, Linda, and five children, J'Nelle, Floyd Jr., Andre, Keeshawn and Tamile.
"He was a wonderful individual. Having him around was a charm," said his commanding officer, Sgt. Maj. Tony Davis.
Colleagues remember Lake as a dedicated father who often could be found attending his children's elementary school activities or running and exercising with his children, Andre and Tamile, who lived with him in Beltsville.
An outdoorsman and "fitness fanatic," Lake took pride in his health and his many physical fitness achievement medals. He repeatedly scored "master fitness" level in military physical training tests, said his civilian boss, Felicia Barrett, logistics support branch chief in the Army National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington.
"He was always out in front, beating most of us in physical fitness tests," Davis said.
A native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Lake spoke often of his home, colleagues said, treating them to island food he prepared himself at home and stories of buying sweet apples at the open market.
Lake graduated from Ivana Eud Kean High School in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in 1984, National Guard officials said.
A career soldier, he enlisted in the Army in 1988, and served two years as a stock record clerk at Fort Polk, La., before completing his tour of duty.
In 1990, Lake joined the Virgin Islands Army National Guard, and served as the material control and handling supervisor for the 662nd Field Service Co. on St. Thomas. In 1991, he moved to St. Croix, where he served as the warehouse foreman at the office of the U.S. Property and Fiscal Office.
In 2004, Lake transferred to the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, where he was the logistics noncommissioned officer at the Readiness Center and was responsible for maintaining a $3 million purchasing budget and providing computers, supplies and automation equipment to more than 250 soldiers in three divisions.
"He took care of everything here," said Barrett. "He would do anything you asked him. He took care of his missions and was meticulous about his duties."
Barrett remembers Lake as an easygoing, soft-spoken man, who was not a socialite, but very friendly, and always promised to bring her island jewelry.
Lake deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, in October 2006
Army Staff Sgt. Floyd E. Lake was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Lt. Col. David C. Canegata, III
Remember Our Heroes
Army Lt. Col. David C. Canegata, III, 50, of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Lt. Col. Canegata was assigned to the Virgin Islands Army National Guard, Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
The Mercury News -- ST CROIX, USVI: The identities of the two US Virgin Islands National Guard soldiers killed in Baghdad, Iraq have been released by military officials. Lt. Col. David C. Canegata III of St Croix and Sgt. First Class Floyd Everett Lake of St Thomas died when the US Army Black Hawk helicopter they were traveling in went down.
Virgin Islands Adj. Gen. Eddy Charles described the fallen soldiers as "heroes" and "warriors."
Canegata, 50, began his military service in 1985. He is survived by his wife Shenneth Benjamin Canegata, his four children, Nicole, David-Mychal, Andre and Jessica.
Army Lt. Col. David C. Canegata, III, was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Lt. Col. David C. Canegata, III, 50, of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Lt. Col. Canegata was assigned to the Virgin Islands Army National Guard, Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
The Mercury News -- ST CROIX, USVI: The identities of the two US Virgin Islands National Guard soldiers killed in Baghdad, Iraq have been released by military officials. Lt. Col. David C. Canegata III of St Croix and Sgt. First Class Floyd Everett Lake of St Thomas died when the US Army Black Hawk helicopter they were traveling in went down.
Virgin Islands Adj. Gen. Eddy Charles described the fallen soldiers as "heroes" and "warriors."
Canegata, 50, began his military service in 1985. He is survived by his wife Shenneth Benjamin Canegata, his four children, Nicole, David-Mychal, Andre and Jessica.
Army Lt. Col. David C. Canegata, III, was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army 1st Sgt. William T. Warren
Remember Our Heroes
Army 1st Sgt. William T. Warren, 48, of North Little Rock, Ark.
1st Sgt. Warren was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Ark.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
Warren’s wife, Doris Warren, said Jan. 23 that her husband was a strong, quiet presence. He was the first sergeant of Bravo Company, commanded by Taylor, of the Arkansas National Guard’s 77th Aviation Brigade. The 77th has been in Iraq since early September.
Doris Warren said her husband died doing what he loved — flying a helicopter.
“Other than family, aviation was Tom Warren’s heart and soul,” she said.
A senior military official said Jan. 22 that investigators have found evidence the Black Hawk may have been shot down — a tube that could be part of a shoulder-fired weapon that may have been fired at the aircraft. An al-Qaida-linked coalition of Iraqi Sunni insurgents called The Islamic State in Iraq claimed Jan. 22 that its fighters shot down the helicopter.
The crash occurred during good weather in Diyala province.
Jacksonville Patriot -- Last Saturday, First Sgt. Tom Warren of North Little Rock volunteered to fill in as door gunner on one of the the Army National Guard’s Blackhawk helicopters that he was in charge of maintaining in Iraq, sitting in for a fellow soldier who had a problem.
That eventful decision meant that he was aboard an ill-fated helicopter which went down northeast of Baghdad in Iraq on Jan. 20, killing not only the 48-year-old Warren but also another North Little Rock resident and the pilot of the craft, Maj. Michael Taylor, 40, Sgt. 1st Class Gary Brown, 43, of Little Rock, and nine other soldiers. While some news agencies have reported enemy fire was responsible, the Army National Guard had not announced an official cause by press time.
William Thomas Warren — or "Tommy," as he liked to be called — grew up in the Amboy neighborhood, the son of Bill and Billie Warren who operated a service station at the corner of MacArthur Drive and Military Road, just down the street from the entrance to Camp Robinson. He graduated from North Little Rock High School’s Ole Main campus in 1976. After six years active duty in the U.S. Army, he returned home to find a job as an aircraft technical inspector at the Arkansas National Guard’s flight facility at Camp Robinson. Warren logged a total of 27 years military service for the country he loved so much.
"My Dad cherished his family and he loved what he did," his oldest son, Zachary Warren, said Tuesday. "He will be greatly missed. Thanks to e-mail we were able to stay in touch during his tour in Iraq. Usually he answered Mom first because he was so busy, but last Friday I e-mailed him and he instantly e-mailed me back. I am so thankful he did. All his best friends are still in Iraq."
His current pastor at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship and best friend growing up, the Rev. Ken Bunch, said that he and Warren spent weekends swimming and fishing at Lake Nimrod on camping trips with their parents. They grew up together, attending the youth group at Amboy Baptist Church and often made trips to Ashley County to go hunting for deer or squirrels.
Both Warren’s and Bunch’s fathers were clowns with the Shriners’ Scimitar unit in Little Rock, and as kids they enjoyed traveling with their dads all decked out in the Shriner clown uniform, just tagging along for fun. The clown outfits, special clown vehicles and motorcycles left their mark upon Warren; friends say that they seldom saw him without a smile on his face, and he also developed a love for motorcycles.
Warren was also a Mason and served in 1999 as Past Master of Big Rock Lodge #33 in Levy, the same leadership position his late father held twice. He was a deacon and former Sunday school director at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship on MacArthur Drive. According to Bunch, Warren was very faithful and committed to his church, but what really impressed him was the way Warren treated every kid like his own.
Warren and his wife, Doris, celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary three days before he was killed in action in Iraq. He was able to call her that day and again later the same week, which was unusual for him. Doris Warren said that her husband loved his country and supported his president.
For Christmas, he had sent a special letter to his 9-year-old son Jordan telling him how proud he was of him. Thanks to family friends, that letter now hangs framed over Jordan’s bed.
Fellow church member Lynne Holley said that Warren was "a really neat guy who loved his wife and family very much. He led devotional and Bible study every Wednesday at my home for awhile."
Ron Treat attended church with Warren and knew him very well. He recalled when Warren’s mother was trying to get a variance from the city of North Little Rock for the property they owned on MacArthur Drive. When the City Council voted the ordinance down without a public hearing, Treat said his friend surprised him.
"I thought I knew Tommy well, " he said. "But when he got up during the public comment period I was shocked at how eloquent he spoke to the council, shaming them for not giving the public a chance to be heard. His pleas were so impassioned that the council immediately retracted what they had done and gave us a chance to be heard."
Treat said that Warren was always happy, an exceptional father who was devoted to his wife and a very religious man. A retired military officer, Treat said that he and Warren talked about his tour of duty in Iraq and that Warren told him he wasn’t afraid to go or to be sent in harm’s way, and that it was just part of wearing the uniform and his duty to the community and nation.
In addition to his wife of 24 years, Warren is survived by five children — Zachary and Jordan Warren of North Little Rock, Denise Day of San Antonio, Texas, Dorreen Hill of Bellview, Fla., and Desire Willingham of Bryant — as well as his mother Billie Warren of North Little Rock, and 13 grandchildren.
Army 1st Sgt. William T. Warren was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army 1st Sgt. William T. Warren, 48, of North Little Rock, Ark.
1st Sgt. Warren was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Ark.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
Warren’s wife, Doris Warren, said Jan. 23 that her husband was a strong, quiet presence. He was the first sergeant of Bravo Company, commanded by Taylor, of the Arkansas National Guard’s 77th Aviation Brigade. The 77th has been in Iraq since early September.
Doris Warren said her husband died doing what he loved — flying a helicopter.
“Other than family, aviation was Tom Warren’s heart and soul,” she said.
A senior military official said Jan. 22 that investigators have found evidence the Black Hawk may have been shot down — a tube that could be part of a shoulder-fired weapon that may have been fired at the aircraft. An al-Qaida-linked coalition of Iraqi Sunni insurgents called The Islamic State in Iraq claimed Jan. 22 that its fighters shot down the helicopter.
The crash occurred during good weather in Diyala province.
Jacksonville Patriot -- Last Saturday, First Sgt. Tom Warren of North Little Rock volunteered to fill in as door gunner on one of the the Army National Guard’s Blackhawk helicopters that he was in charge of maintaining in Iraq, sitting in for a fellow soldier who had a problem.
That eventful decision meant that he was aboard an ill-fated helicopter which went down northeast of Baghdad in Iraq on Jan. 20, killing not only the 48-year-old Warren but also another North Little Rock resident and the pilot of the craft, Maj. Michael Taylor, 40, Sgt. 1st Class Gary Brown, 43, of Little Rock, and nine other soldiers. While some news agencies have reported enemy fire was responsible, the Army National Guard had not announced an official cause by press time.
William Thomas Warren — or "Tommy," as he liked to be called — grew up in the Amboy neighborhood, the son of Bill and Billie Warren who operated a service station at the corner of MacArthur Drive and Military Road, just down the street from the entrance to Camp Robinson. He graduated from North Little Rock High School’s Ole Main campus in 1976. After six years active duty in the U.S. Army, he returned home to find a job as an aircraft technical inspector at the Arkansas National Guard’s flight facility at Camp Robinson. Warren logged a total of 27 years military service for the country he loved so much.
"My Dad cherished his family and he loved what he did," his oldest son, Zachary Warren, said Tuesday. "He will be greatly missed. Thanks to e-mail we were able to stay in touch during his tour in Iraq. Usually he answered Mom first because he was so busy, but last Friday I e-mailed him and he instantly e-mailed me back. I am so thankful he did. All his best friends are still in Iraq."
His current pastor at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship and best friend growing up, the Rev. Ken Bunch, said that he and Warren spent weekends swimming and fishing at Lake Nimrod on camping trips with their parents. They grew up together, attending the youth group at Amboy Baptist Church and often made trips to Ashley County to go hunting for deer or squirrels.
Both Warren’s and Bunch’s fathers were clowns with the Shriners’ Scimitar unit in Little Rock, and as kids they enjoyed traveling with their dads all decked out in the Shriner clown uniform, just tagging along for fun. The clown outfits, special clown vehicles and motorcycles left their mark upon Warren; friends say that they seldom saw him without a smile on his face, and he also developed a love for motorcycles.
Warren was also a Mason and served in 1999 as Past Master of Big Rock Lodge #33 in Levy, the same leadership position his late father held twice. He was a deacon and former Sunday school director at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship on MacArthur Drive. According to Bunch, Warren was very faithful and committed to his church, but what really impressed him was the way Warren treated every kid like his own.
Warren and his wife, Doris, celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary three days before he was killed in action in Iraq. He was able to call her that day and again later the same week, which was unusual for him. Doris Warren said that her husband loved his country and supported his president.
For Christmas, he had sent a special letter to his 9-year-old son Jordan telling him how proud he was of him. Thanks to family friends, that letter now hangs framed over Jordan’s bed.
Fellow church member Lynne Holley said that Warren was "a really neat guy who loved his wife and family very much. He led devotional and Bible study every Wednesday at my home for awhile."
Ron Treat attended church with Warren and knew him very well. He recalled when Warren’s mother was trying to get a variance from the city of North Little Rock for the property they owned on MacArthur Drive. When the City Council voted the ordinance down without a public hearing, Treat said his friend surprised him.
"I thought I knew Tommy well, " he said. "But when he got up during the public comment period I was shocked at how eloquent he spoke to the council, shaming them for not giving the public a chance to be heard. His pleas were so impassioned that the council immediately retracted what they had done and gave us a chance to be heard."
Treat said that Warren was always happy, an exceptional father who was devoted to his wife and a very religious man. A retired military officer, Treat said that he and Warren talked about his tour of duty in Iraq and that Warren told him he wasn’t afraid to go or to be sent in harm’s way, and that it was just part of wearing the uniform and his duty to the community and nation.
In addition to his wife of 24 years, Warren is survived by five children — Zachary and Jordan Warren of North Little Rock, Denise Day of San Antonio, Texas, Dorreen Hill of Bellview, Fla., and Desire Willingham of Bryant — as well as his mother Billie Warren of North Little Rock, and 13 grandchildren.
Army 1st Sgt. William T. Warren was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker
Remember Our Heroes
Army Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker, 37, of Midlothian, Va.
SSgt Booker was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, Virginia Army National Guard, Sandston, Va.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
Booker, a Manchester High School graduate, was an air-traffic controller. In his civilian life, he was a full-time employee of the Army Aviation Support Facility at Sandston.
"He was dedicated and committed to what he did," said Booker's father, Earnest R. Hardy Sr. of Smithfield.
Booker was planning on retiring after this deployment, Hardy said.
Active in his church, Booker "wasn't just a soldier in the United States Army," Hardy said. "He had rank in the army of the Lord."
"All Virginia Guardsmen are saddened by the terrible loss of these brave soldiers," said Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman Jr., the state Guard's commander.
"We owe these Guardsmen and their families immeasurable gratitude," Newman said in a statement.
Booker joined the Virginia Army Guard in September 1987 and was assigned as a flight operations coordinator. In June 1989, he moved to the active-duty Army, serving as an air traffic control operations specialist until 1996. He returned to the Virginia Army National Guard that year, becoming an air traffic control supervisor.
Booker had deployed to Iraq and to Bosnia before his latest tour of duty in the Middle East.
He was married to Myrtle Jean Jones Booker and had a daughter, Derica Booker of Arlington, Texas, and four stepchildren. His funeral arrangements were incomplete yesterday.
Army Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker, 37, of Midlothian, Va.
SSgt Booker was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, Virginia Army National Guard, Sandston, Va.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
Booker, a Manchester High School graduate, was an air-traffic controller. In his civilian life, he was a full-time employee of the Army Aviation Support Facility at Sandston.
"He was dedicated and committed to what he did," said Booker's father, Earnest R. Hardy Sr. of Smithfield.
Booker was planning on retiring after this deployment, Hardy said.
Active in his church, Booker "wasn't just a soldier in the United States Army," Hardy said. "He had rank in the army of the Lord."
"All Virginia Guardsmen are saddened by the terrible loss of these brave soldiers," said Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman Jr., the state Guard's commander.
"We owe these Guardsmen and their families immeasurable gratitude," Newman said in a statement.
Booker joined the Virginia Army Guard in September 1987 and was assigned as a flight operations coordinator. In June 1989, he moved to the active-duty Army, serving as an air traffic control operations specialist until 1996. He returned to the Virginia Army National Guard that year, becoming an air traffic control supervisor.
Booker had deployed to Iraq and to Bosnia before his latest tour of duty in the Middle East.
He was married to Myrtle Jean Jones Booker and had a daughter, Derica Booker of Arlington, Texas, and four stepchildren. His funeral arrangements were incomplete yesterday.
Army Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard
Remember Our Heroes
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, Iowa
Command Sgt. Gabbard was assigned to Joint Forces Headquarters, Iowa Army National Guard, Camp Dodge, Johnston, Iowa; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was in crashed.
Iowa soldier killed in helicopter crash in Iraq
By Henry C. Jackson
The Associated Press
JOHNSTON, Iowa — The first woman promoted to the rank of command sergeant major in the Iowa Army National Guard was among those killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq, guard officials said Jan. 24.
Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, was a passenger on the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter when it crashed Jan. 20 northeast of Baghdad, officials said. She was the first woman in the history of the Iowa National Guard to be killed in combat, Iowa National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood said.
Military officials said Gabbard’s helicopter might have been shot down, but the investigation was continuing. Twelve National Guard soldiers from seven states and the U.S. Virgin Islands died in the crash.
Gabbard was 19th Iowa National Guard member and the 50th service member with Iowa ties to be killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gabbard was born in 1960 in Boone and graduated from Boone High School in 1979. She served in the National Guard for 27 years, starting in 1979, ascending to the rank of sergeant major. In her most recent post, Gabbard served as state operations sergeant major at the Iowa National Guard’s Joint Forces Headquarters in Johnston.
Gabbard’s long tenure with the Iowa National Guard made the pain from her loss acute, Hapgood said.
“She touched so many people in so many different areas of our organization,” he said.
As the first woman promoted to her rank, Gabbard was in a position to serve as a role model to other woman soldiers in particular, Hapgood said, but Gabbard never saw herself as a trail blazer, just a soldier and a leader.
“She didn’t take it as a burden,” Hapgood said. “She embraced the fact that she had gone places other people hadn’t gone before. I think she relished having soldiers look up to her.”
Gabbard deployed from Iowa on Dec. 16. She served as the noncommissioned officer in charge of the National Guard Affairs Team in Baghdad. It was her first deployment to the region, Hapgood said.
Gabbard leaves behind her husband, Edward Gabbard; daughter, Melissa Danielson; mother, Mary Van Cannon; brothers, Mark and Mike Van Cannon; sister, Marla Noren; two grandchildren, five stepdaughters and a stepson.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, Iowa
Command Sgt. Gabbard was assigned to Joint Forces Headquarters, Iowa Army National Guard, Camp Dodge, Johnston, Iowa; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was in crashed.
Iowa soldier killed in helicopter crash in Iraq
By Henry C. Jackson
The Associated Press
JOHNSTON, Iowa — The first woman promoted to the rank of command sergeant major in the Iowa Army National Guard was among those killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq, guard officials said Jan. 24.
Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, was a passenger on the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter when it crashed Jan. 20 northeast of Baghdad, officials said. She was the first woman in the history of the Iowa National Guard to be killed in combat, Iowa National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood said.
Military officials said Gabbard’s helicopter might have been shot down, but the investigation was continuing. Twelve National Guard soldiers from seven states and the U.S. Virgin Islands died in the crash.
Gabbard was 19th Iowa National Guard member and the 50th service member with Iowa ties to be killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gabbard was born in 1960 in Boone and graduated from Boone High School in 1979. She served in the National Guard for 27 years, starting in 1979, ascending to the rank of sergeant major. In her most recent post, Gabbard served as state operations sergeant major at the Iowa National Guard’s Joint Forces Headquarters in Johnston.
Gabbard’s long tenure with the Iowa National Guard made the pain from her loss acute, Hapgood said.
“She touched so many people in so many different areas of our organization,” he said.
As the first woman promoted to her rank, Gabbard was in a position to serve as a role model to other woman soldiers in particular, Hapgood said, but Gabbard never saw herself as a trail blazer, just a soldier and a leader.
“She didn’t take it as a burden,” Hapgood said. “She embraced the fact that she had gone places other people hadn’t gone before. I think she relished having soldiers look up to her.”
Gabbard deployed from Iowa on Dec. 16. She served as the noncommissioned officer in charge of the National Guard Affairs Team in Baghdad. It was her first deployment to the region, Hapgood said.
Gabbard leaves behind her husband, Edward Gabbard; daughter, Melissa Danielson; mother, Mary Van Cannon; brothers, Mark and Mike Van Cannon; sister, Marla Noren; two grandchildren, five stepdaughters and a stepson.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller
Remember Our Heroes
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller, 49, of Davidsonville, Md.
Command Sgt. Haller was assigned to the 70th Regiment, Regional Training Institute — Maryland, Maryland Army National Guard, Reisterstown, Md.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
High-ranking Md. National Guard soldier killed in Iraq
BALTIMORE — A high-ranking soldier in the Maryland Army National Guard who taught classes at the guard’s training academy at Camp Fretterd was one of 12 soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed northeast of Baghdad, family members said Jan. 23.
Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller, 49, of Annapolis, was the top-ranked enlisted man in the guard’s Headquarters 70th Regiment (LDR), a leadership training unit. He was commandant of the noncommissioned officers’ academy, which trains soldiers in a variety of disciplines, including ethics, personnel management and military history.
His family was notified the evening of Jan. 21 that he was killed in the previous day’s crash, said his daughters, Morgan Haller and Kathryn Haller, both of Cambridge.
A spokesman with the Maryland National Guard confirmed Haller’s death Jan. 24, although the Defense Department had not yet announced it.
Haller worked in construction and as a plumber before returning to the guard full-time.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, he begged his superiors to deploy him overseas, Morgan Haller said in a phone interview from her mother’s home. Finally, he was sent shortly after Thanksgiving 2006 to Afghanistan, she said.
“He was so excited. He still asked us if it was OK. I said, ‘It’s something you love, I’m not going to tell you no,’” Morgan Haller said. “We knew what the consequences were in him being over there. When you grow up in a military life your whole life, you know those things can happen, and you’re better prepared for it than most people.”
Haller’s son, Sgt. Daniel Haller, 22, served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and came home shortly before his father was deployed, Morgan Haller said.
Morgan and Kathryn Haller said they knew little about how their father died. A Pentagon official has said there was evidence in the wreckage that a surface-to-air missile may have shot down the helicopter. U.S. military officials in Baghdad have not confirmed that, and an investigation into the crash continues.
Haller’s daughters did not know why their father was aboard the helicopter or why he traveled to Iraq after being deployed to Afghanistan. He was never very talkative about his assignments.
“He just said he was going over there to fix other people’s messes, and that’s about it,” Morgan Haller said. “He always went to places to fix other people’s problems.”
Haller served in the National Guard for about 24 years, his daughters said — longer than either of them have been alive. He rode Harley-Davidson motorcycles and taught his son and daughters how to hunt and fish, Morgan Haller said.
“He never saw it as, ‘My little girl can’t shoot a gun, and she has to dress in dresses,’ because that’s not me,” said Morgan Haller, 21.
He also loved to travel and took his youngest daughter on several summer vacations.
“Every summer, we would go to a different place,” said Kathryn Haller, 17, a high school senior. “Wherever we went, we would always collect martini glasses.”
When he told her he was going to Afghanistan, “I told him he should go and have fun and take pictures,” Kathryn Haller said.
Haller was divorced from his children’s mother, Sandy Hockman, of Cambridge.
The family was told Haller would be eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
— Ben Nuckols, The Associated Press
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller, 49, of Davidsonville, Md.
Command Sgt. Haller was assigned to the 70th Regiment, Regional Training Institute — Maryland, Maryland Army National Guard, Reisterstown, Md.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
High-ranking Md. National Guard soldier killed in Iraq
BALTIMORE — A high-ranking soldier in the Maryland Army National Guard who taught classes at the guard’s training academy at Camp Fretterd was one of 12 soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed northeast of Baghdad, family members said Jan. 23.
Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller, 49, of Annapolis, was the top-ranked enlisted man in the guard’s Headquarters 70th Regiment (LDR), a leadership training unit. He was commandant of the noncommissioned officers’ academy, which trains soldiers in a variety of disciplines, including ethics, personnel management and military history.
His family was notified the evening of Jan. 21 that he was killed in the previous day’s crash, said his daughters, Morgan Haller and Kathryn Haller, both of Cambridge.
A spokesman with the Maryland National Guard confirmed Haller’s death Jan. 24, although the Defense Department had not yet announced it.
Haller worked in construction and as a plumber before returning to the guard full-time.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, he begged his superiors to deploy him overseas, Morgan Haller said in a phone interview from her mother’s home. Finally, he was sent shortly after Thanksgiving 2006 to Afghanistan, she said.
“He was so excited. He still asked us if it was OK. I said, ‘It’s something you love, I’m not going to tell you no,’” Morgan Haller said. “We knew what the consequences were in him being over there. When you grow up in a military life your whole life, you know those things can happen, and you’re better prepared for it than most people.”
Haller’s son, Sgt. Daniel Haller, 22, served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and came home shortly before his father was deployed, Morgan Haller said.
Morgan and Kathryn Haller said they knew little about how their father died. A Pentagon official has said there was evidence in the wreckage that a surface-to-air missile may have shot down the helicopter. U.S. military officials in Baghdad have not confirmed that, and an investigation into the crash continues.
Haller’s daughters did not know why their father was aboard the helicopter or why he traveled to Iraq after being deployed to Afghanistan. He was never very talkative about his assignments.
“He just said he was going over there to fix other people’s messes, and that’s about it,” Morgan Haller said. “He always went to places to fix other people’s problems.”
Haller served in the National Guard for about 24 years, his daughters said — longer than either of them have been alive. He rode Harley-Davidson motorcycles and taught his son and daughters how to hunt and fish, Morgan Haller said.
“He never saw it as, ‘My little girl can’t shoot a gun, and she has to dress in dresses,’ because that’s not me,” said Morgan Haller, 21.
He also loved to travel and took his youngest daughter on several summer vacations.
“Every summer, we would go to a different place,” said Kathryn Haller, 17, a high school senior. “Wherever we went, we would always collect martini glasses.”
When he told her he was going to Afghanistan, “I told him he should go and have fun and take pictures,” Kathryn Haller said.
Haller was divorced from his children’s mother, Sandy Hockman, of Cambridge.
The family was told Haller would be eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
— Ben Nuckols, The Associated Press
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Col. Brian D. Allgood
Remember Our Heroes
Army Col. Brian D. Allgood, 46, of Oklahoma
Col. Allgood was assigned to the 30th Medical Brigade, European Regional Medical Command, Heidelberg, Germany; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
Top medical officer killed in Iraq helicopter crash
OKLAHOMA CITY — The top medical officer for U.S. troops in Iraq was among the 12 people killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Baghdad this weekend, a family member said.
Col. Brian D. Allgood, 46, had been serving in Iraq for about six months before the Jan. 20 crash, said his uncle, Dr. Richard Allgood of Lawton, Okla. A Colorado Springs, Colo., native, Allgood graduated from Air Academy High School in 1978.
Pentagon officials confirmed his death Jan. 24.
“Brian was a wonderful human being,” his mother, Cleo Allgood of Colorado Springs, told The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. “He was a wonderful brother, son, husband and father. He just was a giving person who served his country.”
Richard Allgood said his nephew graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1982 and from the University of Oklahoma Medical Center four years later. After that, he completed his residency at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and continued his career in the military.
“He just really was a wonderful young man,” Allgood said. “I think that he always wanted to be in the military, and I think that’s what he thought his life and function was going to be. I think he did it willingly. I don’t think he had any reservations about what he was doing.”
Allgood’s death was first reported Jan. 23 by The Oklahoman on its Web site, NewsOK.com.
“My brother, who is his father and lives in Colorado, called me Sunday and said that he had been killed in Iraq. The information that I received is they were apparently shot down by a missile while in a helicopter,” Allgood said.
The military said 12 soldiers were killed Jan. 20 in a helicopter crash in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad and that an investigation continues into whether a shoulder-fired weapon caused the crash.
In more than two decades in the military, Allgood said his nephew had parachuted into Panama and had served as the commanding officer of the hospital at West Point. He was the commanding officer of medical facilities in Korea for two years before being sent to Iraq, his uncle said.
“He was over all the hospitals and all the medical staff and all the facilities in Iraq,” Allgood said.
Brian Allgood was mentioned last August in a USA Today article on how additional training had led to a drop in heat-related deaths by U.S troops in Iraq.
Brian Allgood’s wife and son were living in Germany, where he was due to be stationed in July, Allgood’s uncle said. He also had one brother and one sister.
His father and both of his uncles served in the armed forces in Vietnam.
“He was the third-generation Allgood to go to OU medical school,” Allgood said. “He was very athletic in school, and I think that’s where he got his interest in orthopedic surgery. He really liked the outdoors, fishing. He was a big OU fan. Apparently he was very well respected.”
— Jeff Latzke, The Associated Press
Army Col. Brian D. Allgood was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Col. Brian D. Allgood, 46, of Oklahoma
Col. Allgood was assigned to the 30th Medical Brigade, European Regional Medical Command, Heidelberg, Germany; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
Top medical officer killed in Iraq helicopter crash
OKLAHOMA CITY — The top medical officer for U.S. troops in Iraq was among the 12 people killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Baghdad this weekend, a family member said.
Col. Brian D. Allgood, 46, had been serving in Iraq for about six months before the Jan. 20 crash, said his uncle, Dr. Richard Allgood of Lawton, Okla. A Colorado Springs, Colo., native, Allgood graduated from Air Academy High School in 1978.
Pentagon officials confirmed his death Jan. 24.
“Brian was a wonderful human being,” his mother, Cleo Allgood of Colorado Springs, told The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. “He was a wonderful brother, son, husband and father. He just was a giving person who served his country.”
Richard Allgood said his nephew graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1982 and from the University of Oklahoma Medical Center four years later. After that, he completed his residency at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and continued his career in the military.
“He just really was a wonderful young man,” Allgood said. “I think that he always wanted to be in the military, and I think that’s what he thought his life and function was going to be. I think he did it willingly. I don’t think he had any reservations about what he was doing.”
Allgood’s death was first reported Jan. 23 by The Oklahoman on its Web site, NewsOK.com.
“My brother, who is his father and lives in Colorado, called me Sunday and said that he had been killed in Iraq. The information that I received is they were apparently shot down by a missile while in a helicopter,” Allgood said.
The military said 12 soldiers were killed Jan. 20 in a helicopter crash in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad and that an investigation continues into whether a shoulder-fired weapon caused the crash.
In more than two decades in the military, Allgood said his nephew had parachuted into Panama and had served as the commanding officer of the hospital at West Point. He was the commanding officer of medical facilities in Korea for two years before being sent to Iraq, his uncle said.
“He was over all the hospitals and all the medical staff and all the facilities in Iraq,” Allgood said.
Brian Allgood was mentioned last August in a USA Today article on how additional training had led to a drop in heat-related deaths by U.S troops in Iraq.
Brian Allgood’s wife and son were living in Germany, where he was due to be stationed in July, Allgood’s uncle said. He also had one brother and one sister.
His father and both of his uncles served in the armed forces in Vietnam.
“He was the third-generation Allgood to go to OU medical school,” Allgood said. “He was very athletic in school, and I think that’s where he got his interest in orthopedic surgery. He really liked the outdoors, fishing. He was a big OU fan. Apparently he was very well respected.”
— Jeff Latzke, The Associated Press
Army Col. Brian D. Allgood was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Cpl. Victor M. Langarica
Remember Our Heroes
Army Cpl. Victor M. Langarica, 29, of Decatur, Ga.
Cpl. Langarica was assigned to the 86th Signal Battalion, Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
David Marino Reports
Fort Huachuca soldier dies in Iraq helicopter crash
Jan 26, 2007 07:51 AM EST
A Fort Huachuca soldier died when his Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Iraq.
Friends and colleagues remember the life of Corporal Victor Langarica.
The 29-year-old died this past weekend in Mosul when a Black Hawk helicopter went down.
Military officials believe the chopper may have been shot down by insurgents.
Specialist Langarica was a member of Fort Huachuca's 11th Signal Brigade. He was a native of Decatur, Georgia.
In every picture, Cpl. Victor Langarica's personality shines through.
His bright smile, and his love for his son and daughter, always stood out to his fellow soldiers.
Specialist Charlie Harris says, "He talked about his kids everyday, he loved his kids. He wanted to give them something he never had."
Spc. Harris says Cpl. Langarica was like a brother.
Harris remembers when his friend got a tattoo on his arm.
Langarica was told by the tattoo artist, it was original and he was the only one who had it.
Turns out, three other soldiers got the same one.
"He said, 'When you see me, cover your sleeves up, cause I got mine first,' and these guys just kept going on about it," Harris said.
Spc. Harris says the Corporal also taught him a few important skills.
"I don't think nobody around here anywhere can out dance him. He taught me how to dance," Harris said.
On the job, the fallen soldier was serious and aimed for perfection.
1st Lt. Robert Ashman says, "He was always the one who stood out, who jumped on the mission right away. He was always one to accomplish everything right away."
Spc. Ashlee Kerrigan says, "When I needed help with something, he was right there."
Without Cpl. Langarica around, things will be different for the 11th Signal Brigade, but he'll always be a part of their family.
Harris says, "I'm going to miss him. I mean, I miss my partner."
Kerrigan adds, "When all the soldiers do come home, there's going to be that little piece missing."
Cpl. Langarica is the first soldier with the 11th Signal Brigade to die in Iraq.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday, January 30 at Fort Huachuca's Main Post Chapel at 10 a.m.
Langarica will be buried in his home state of Georgia.
Army Cpl. Victor M. Langarica was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Cpl. Victor M. Langarica, 29, of Decatur, Ga.
Cpl. Langarica was assigned to the 86th Signal Battalion, Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
David Marino Reports
Fort Huachuca soldier dies in Iraq helicopter crash
Jan 26, 2007 07:51 AM EST
A Fort Huachuca soldier died when his Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Iraq.
Friends and colleagues remember the life of Corporal Victor Langarica.
The 29-year-old died this past weekend in Mosul when a Black Hawk helicopter went down.
Military officials believe the chopper may have been shot down by insurgents.
Specialist Langarica was a member of Fort Huachuca's 11th Signal Brigade. He was a native of Decatur, Georgia.
In every picture, Cpl. Victor Langarica's personality shines through.
His bright smile, and his love for his son and daughter, always stood out to his fellow soldiers.
Specialist Charlie Harris says, "He talked about his kids everyday, he loved his kids. He wanted to give them something he never had."
Spc. Harris says Cpl. Langarica was like a brother.
Harris remembers when his friend got a tattoo on his arm.
Langarica was told by the tattoo artist, it was original and he was the only one who had it.
Turns out, three other soldiers got the same one.
"He said, 'When you see me, cover your sleeves up, cause I got mine first,' and these guys just kept going on about it," Harris said.
Spc. Harris says the Corporal also taught him a few important skills.
"I don't think nobody around here anywhere can out dance him. He taught me how to dance," Harris said.
On the job, the fallen soldier was serious and aimed for perfection.
1st Lt. Robert Ashman says, "He was always the one who stood out, who jumped on the mission right away. He was always one to accomplish everything right away."
Spc. Ashlee Kerrigan says, "When I needed help with something, he was right there."
Without Cpl. Langarica around, things will be different for the 11th Signal Brigade, but he'll always be a part of their family.
Harris says, "I'm going to miss him. I mean, I miss my partner."
Kerrigan adds, "When all the soldiers do come home, there's going to be that little piece missing."
Cpl. Langarica is the first soldier with the 11th Signal Brigade to die in Iraq.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday, January 30 at Fort Huachuca's Main Post Chapel at 10 a.m.
Langarica will be buried in his home state of Georgia.
Army Cpl. Victor M. Langarica was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Col. Paul M. Kelly
Remember Our Heroes
Army Col. Paul M. Kelly, 45, of Stafford, Va.
Col. Kelly was assigned to the Joint Force Headquarters of the Virginia Army National Guard in Blackstone, Va.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
The Mercury News -- Col. Paul M. Kelly was nicknamed "the Senator" because he was always shaking soldiers' hands, no matter their rank, colleagues said.
The Carroll High School and University of Dayton graduate was among the 12 soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed northeast of Baghdad last Saturday.
Kelly, 45, is one of the most senior Army officers to die in Iraq. He was a mentor to many coming up through the ranks, soldiers said.
Sgt. 1st Class Arturo Robinson remembered how years ago, when he was getting into disciplinary trouble, Kelly told him to take a hard look at the way he was acting.
It was the sort of command that officers give their soldiers all the time — and often it goes ignored. But something about the way Kelly said it — firmly but with respect — got through to Robinson.
"He saved my career," Robinson said. "I would walk behind him in any war, in any place."
Tuesday in Al Asad, Iraq, nearly 200 members of the Virginia National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, gathered in a chapel at their base west of Baghdad to mourn Kelly and the others who died.
Kelly's parents, John and Mary Rose Kelly, and two of his five siblings, Patrick and Theresa, live in Beavercreek.
His brother John, who lives in Boston, recalled a man who cherished the soldiers he worked with.
"Every time we communicated with him, he'd ask us to pray for all the soldiers doing a great job out there," John Kelly said.
"He was extremely caring and dedicated both to the profession and his family and friends. He loved what he did, and he loved his country."
Kelly, of Stafford, Va., was deployed to Iraq with the National Guard last fall and was to come home in March.
Army Col. Paul M. Kelly was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Col. Paul M. Kelly, 45, of Stafford, Va.
Col. Kelly was assigned to the Joint Force Headquarters of the Virginia Army National Guard in Blackstone, Va.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
The Mercury News -- Col. Paul M. Kelly was nicknamed "the Senator" because he was always shaking soldiers' hands, no matter their rank, colleagues said.
The Carroll High School and University of Dayton graduate was among the 12 soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed northeast of Baghdad last Saturday.
Kelly, 45, is one of the most senior Army officers to die in Iraq. He was a mentor to many coming up through the ranks, soldiers said.
Sgt. 1st Class Arturo Robinson remembered how years ago, when he was getting into disciplinary trouble, Kelly told him to take a hard look at the way he was acting.
It was the sort of command that officers give their soldiers all the time — and often it goes ignored. But something about the way Kelly said it — firmly but with respect — got through to Robinson.
"He saved my career," Robinson said. "I would walk behind him in any war, in any place."
Tuesday in Al Asad, Iraq, nearly 200 members of the Virginia National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, gathered in a chapel at their base west of Baghdad to mourn Kelly and the others who died.
Kelly's parents, John and Mary Rose Kelly, and two of his five siblings, Patrick and Theresa, live in Beavercreek.
His brother John, who lives in Boston, recalled a man who cherished the soldiers he worked with.
"Every time we communicated with him, he'd ask us to pray for all the soldiers doing a great job out there," John Kelly said.
"He was extremely caring and dedicated both to the profession and his family and friends. He loved what he did, and he loved his country."
Kelly, of Stafford, Va., was deployed to Iraq with the National Guard last fall and was to come home in March.
Army Col. Paul M. Kelly was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Capt. Sean E. Lyerly
Remember Our Heroes
Army Capt. Sean E. Lyerly, 31, of Pflugerville, Texas
Capt. Lyerly was assigned to the Texas Army National Guard’s 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, 36th Infantry Division, Austin, Texas; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
Iraq helicopter crash claims Pflugerville man
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas — A member of the Texas National Guard was piloting the Army Black Hawk helicopter that went down in Iraq on Jan. 20, killing all 12 soldiers onboard, officials said Jan. 23.
Capt. Sean E. Lyerly, 31, was assigned to the Texas Army National Guard’s 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, 36th Infantry Division, in Austin.
Texas Army National Guard officials said Lyerly was piloting the helicopter when it went down northeast of Baghdad. The U.S. military in Baghdad has refused to confirm a report by a Pentagon official that debris indicated the helicopter was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.
Nine of the other 11 casualties were assigned to state National Guard units, but none was from Texas.
Lylerly, a 1994 graduate of Stratford High School in Houston, joined the National Guard in 1996 after earning a bachelor of science degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University in May 2000. He went on active duty last February and was sent overseas in August to provide aviation support and security.
During his tenure he received various awards, including a National Defense Service Medal with bronze star. He is being recommended for a posthumous Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his selfless service and acts of heroism and valor, the Texas National Guard said.
His wife, Csilla Lyerly, said he worked as a pilot for the National Guard during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, spending several months flying in supplies and helping with rescue missions.
“My husband was a wonderful man,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “He was loving, passionate and full of integrity.”
He is survived by his wife and their 3-year-old son, Zackary, and parents George Lyerly of Bryan and Deborah Russo-Blakeman of Houston.
— The Associated Press
Army Capt. Sean E. Lyerly was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Capt. Sean E. Lyerly, 31, of Pflugerville, Texas
Capt. Lyerly was assigned to the Texas Army National Guard’s 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, 36th Infantry Division, Austin, Texas; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
Iraq helicopter crash claims Pflugerville man
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas — A member of the Texas National Guard was piloting the Army Black Hawk helicopter that went down in Iraq on Jan. 20, killing all 12 soldiers onboard, officials said Jan. 23.
Capt. Sean E. Lyerly, 31, was assigned to the Texas Army National Guard’s 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, 36th Infantry Division, in Austin.
Texas Army National Guard officials said Lyerly was piloting the helicopter when it went down northeast of Baghdad. The U.S. military in Baghdad has refused to confirm a report by a Pentagon official that debris indicated the helicopter was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.
Nine of the other 11 casualties were assigned to state National Guard units, but none was from Texas.
Lylerly, a 1994 graduate of Stratford High School in Houston, joined the National Guard in 1996 after earning a bachelor of science degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University in May 2000. He went on active duty last February and was sent overseas in August to provide aviation support and security.
During his tenure he received various awards, including a National Defense Service Medal with bronze star. He is being recommended for a posthumous Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his selfless service and acts of heroism and valor, the Texas National Guard said.
His wife, Csilla Lyerly, said he worked as a pilot for the National Guard during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, spending several months flying in supplies and helping with rescue missions.
“My husband was a wonderful man,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “He was loving, passionate and full of integrity.”
He is survived by his wife and their 3-year-old son, Zackary, and parents George Lyerly of Bryan and Deborah Russo-Blakeman of Houston.
— The Associated Press
Army Capt. Sean E. Lyerly was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Maj. Michael V. Taylor
Remember Our Heroes
Army Maj. Michael V. Taylor, 40, of North Little Rock, Ark.
Maj. Taylor was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Ark.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
WMC Stations --LITTLE ROCK An Arkansas soldier was among the twelve U-S soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed Saturday in Iraq. That word is from the family of Captain Michael Taylor of North Little Rock. Taylor's father-in-law, Sandy Sanders, says Taylor was piloting the helicopter when it went down northeast of Baghdad.
Sanders says the 40-year-old Taylor had been in Iraq for several months and was to return to Arkansas for a family visit in February. He says the family had no other details about the crash.
Taylor, who was in the Army Reserves, also served in Desert Storm.
Taylor and his wife, Wendy, have two children, ages eleven and five. Sanders says Taylor worked in the computer business, and previously worked for the Veterans Administration.
Sanders says his son-in-law loved duck hunting and appreciated life.
The military gave little information on the crash of the Army Black Hawk helicopter. The crash occurred during good weather in Diyala province. U-S and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias for months in the province, around the city of Baqouba. The military did not ruling out hostile fire as the cause of the crash.
Army Maj. Michael V. Taylor was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Maj. Michael V. Taylor, 40, of North Little Rock, Ark.
Maj. Taylor was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Ark.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed.
WMC Stations --LITTLE ROCK An Arkansas soldier was among the twelve U-S soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed Saturday in Iraq. That word is from the family of Captain Michael Taylor of North Little Rock. Taylor's father-in-law, Sandy Sanders, says Taylor was piloting the helicopter when it went down northeast of Baghdad.
Sanders says the 40-year-old Taylor had been in Iraq for several months and was to return to Arkansas for a family visit in February. He says the family had no other details about the crash.
Taylor, who was in the Army Reserves, also served in Desert Storm.
Taylor and his wife, Wendy, have two children, ages eleven and five. Sanders says Taylor worked in the computer business, and previously worked for the Veterans Administration.
Sanders says his son-in-law loved duck hunting and appreciated life.
The military gave little information on the crash of the Army Black Hawk helicopter. The crash occurred during good weather in Diyala province. U-S and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias for months in the province, around the city of Baqouba. The military did not ruling out hostile fire as the cause of the crash.
Army Maj. Michael V. Taylor was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Capt. Brian S. Freeman
Remember Our Heroes
Army Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, Calif.
Capt. Freeman was assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion, Whitehall, Ohio; died Jan. 20 of wounds sustained when his meeting area came under attack by mortar and smalls-arms fire in Karbala, Iraq.
Press-Enterprise -- TEMECULA - A 31-year-old U.S. Army Reserve captain from Temecula was killed Saturday in Iraq, family and Department of Defense officials said.
Brian S. Freeman, a civil affairs officer, died from wounds suffered when his team came under fire in Karbala.
Freeman moved to Temecula in 2004, where he lived with his wife, Charlotte, and two children, Gunnar, 2, and Ingrid, 1, and worked as a project manager for KB Home, said his mother, Kathleen Snyder.
At Freeman's house in the Harveston area Tuesday, Snyder said her son felt that serving in Iraq was part of the obligation he signed up for. She said Freeman told his family: "If I have to go there, I'm going to go and try to make a difference."
His family said Freeman was helping the people in the province of Karbala to become independent and that he was pleased to be doing work to improve conditions for civilians, rather than serving in a traditional combat role.
Freeman's family said he did a lot of work in Iraq that went beyond his official duties. His grandmother, Irene Pound, of Solana Beach, recalled a photograph her grandson sent the family of an Iraqi girl posing with food from a care package they sent. He would regularly share those packages with Iraqi civilians, Pound said. He also helped make arrangements for the young son of a Karbala police officer to travel to the United States for heart surgery, Snyder said.
"He makes such an impression on your life," said his mother-in-law, Ginny Mills. "You just don't forget him."
Freeman expected to return from Iraq in April and was collecting letters of recommendation for his applications to graduate school programs, his family said. In one of those letters, the governor of Karbala described how Freeman worked as a liaison between the local government and coalition forces, helping the Iraqi security forces obtain more equipment and training and additional funding for reconstruction projects in the province.
"Freeman has assisted in forming a warmer relationship with the Army ... I think Capt. Freeman genuinely cares about what happens to Karbala and its people," the governor wrote, adding that the captain helped secure death benefits for one of his interpreters killed in action, as well as condolence payments for civilians previously turned down by the Army.
"His experience was as a solider and a statesman," the governor wrote.
Freeman was born in Bakersfield and moved to the San Diego area in 1981, his mother said. He was a 1993 graduate of Torrey Pines High School, and he attended Washington State University for two years, where he was a member of the ROTC. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1999, Snyder said.
Freeman served on active duty five years, assigned first as an armored scout platoon leader at Fort Knox, Ky. He later transferred to Fort Carson, Colo. In 2002, he was accepted into the Army's World Class Athlete Program and assigned to Lake Placid, N.Y., where he trained with Olympic hopefuls from the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, a Department of Defense news release said.
"He had never done anything like that before," his mother said. But after he saw the bobsledders at the Salt Lake City Olympics, "he said, 'I've got to do that!' " Snyder said.
Freeman started on the America's Cup Bobsledding Team and the next year began competing in skeleton -- a one-person, headfirst luge. He won third place in the America's Cup for Bobsledding at Lake Placid.
He had been a member of the Reserve since spring 2004.
Among the numerous awards he received during his military career are two Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, a National Defense Service Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Freeman began mobilizing for Iraq in September 2005 and was assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion from Whitehall, Ohio, a unit of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, the release said.
He was home for two weeks over Christmas and had just returned to Iraq this month.
Charlotte Freeman said her husband had always been interested in community service and had planned to pursue a seat on the local school board before he was called up. She was eight months pregnant when her husband learned that he was being sent to Iraq, but he was granted a three-month deferral to spend a couple of months with his baby daughter. He left for training in January 2006 and went to Iraq in April.
"He's the most genuine man that I've ever met," Charlotte Freeman said. "He was just an amazing guy, and he genuinely cared about others."
Army Capt. Brian S. Freeman was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, Calif.
Capt. Freeman was assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion, Whitehall, Ohio; died Jan. 20 of wounds sustained when his meeting area came under attack by mortar and smalls-arms fire in Karbala, Iraq.
Press-Enterprise -- TEMECULA - A 31-year-old U.S. Army Reserve captain from Temecula was killed Saturday in Iraq, family and Department of Defense officials said.
Brian S. Freeman, a civil affairs officer, died from wounds suffered when his team came under fire in Karbala.
Freeman moved to Temecula in 2004, where he lived with his wife, Charlotte, and two children, Gunnar, 2, and Ingrid, 1, and worked as a project manager for KB Home, said his mother, Kathleen Snyder.
At Freeman's house in the Harveston area Tuesday, Snyder said her son felt that serving in Iraq was part of the obligation he signed up for. She said Freeman told his family: "If I have to go there, I'm going to go and try to make a difference."
His family said Freeman was helping the people in the province of Karbala to become independent and that he was pleased to be doing work to improve conditions for civilians, rather than serving in a traditional combat role.
Freeman's family said he did a lot of work in Iraq that went beyond his official duties. His grandmother, Irene Pound, of Solana Beach, recalled a photograph her grandson sent the family of an Iraqi girl posing with food from a care package they sent. He would regularly share those packages with Iraqi civilians, Pound said. He also helped make arrangements for the young son of a Karbala police officer to travel to the United States for heart surgery, Snyder said.
"He makes such an impression on your life," said his mother-in-law, Ginny Mills. "You just don't forget him."
Freeman expected to return from Iraq in April and was collecting letters of recommendation for his applications to graduate school programs, his family said. In one of those letters, the governor of Karbala described how Freeman worked as a liaison between the local government and coalition forces, helping the Iraqi security forces obtain more equipment and training and additional funding for reconstruction projects in the province.
"Freeman has assisted in forming a warmer relationship with the Army ... I think Capt. Freeman genuinely cares about what happens to Karbala and its people," the governor wrote, adding that the captain helped secure death benefits for one of his interpreters killed in action, as well as condolence payments for civilians previously turned down by the Army.
"His experience was as a solider and a statesman," the governor wrote.
Freeman was born in Bakersfield and moved to the San Diego area in 1981, his mother said. He was a 1993 graduate of Torrey Pines High School, and he attended Washington State University for two years, where he was a member of the ROTC. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1999, Snyder said.
Freeman served on active duty five years, assigned first as an armored scout platoon leader at Fort Knox, Ky. He later transferred to Fort Carson, Colo. In 2002, he was accepted into the Army's World Class Athlete Program and assigned to Lake Placid, N.Y., where he trained with Olympic hopefuls from the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, a Department of Defense news release said.
"He had never done anything like that before," his mother said. But after he saw the bobsledders at the Salt Lake City Olympics, "he said, 'I've got to do that!' " Snyder said.
Freeman started on the America's Cup Bobsledding Team and the next year began competing in skeleton -- a one-person, headfirst luge. He won third place in the America's Cup for Bobsledding at Lake Placid.
He had been a member of the Reserve since spring 2004.
Among the numerous awards he received during his military career are two Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, a National Defense Service Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Freeman began mobilizing for Iraq in September 2005 and was assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion from Whitehall, Ohio, a unit of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, the release said.
He was home for two weeks over Christmas and had just returned to Iraq this month.
Charlotte Freeman said her husband had always been interested in community service and had planned to pursue a seat on the local school board before he was called up. She was eight months pregnant when her husband learned that he was being sent to Iraq, but he was granted a three-month deferral to spend a couple of months with his baby daughter. He left for training in January 2006 and went to Iraq in April.
"He's the most genuine man that I've ever met," Charlotte Freeman said. "He was just an amazing guy, and he genuinely cared about others."
Army Capt. Brian S. Freeman was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican
Remember Our Heroes
Army Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Ala.
Pvt. Millican was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karbala, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.
"You don't have to love the war," Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican wrote on his MySpace page, "but you have to love the warrior."
He was one of four soldiers killed after militants abducted them Jan. 20 from the governor's office in Karbala, Iraq, in a sophisticated sneak attack, the military confirmed Friday.
Millican, 20, of Trafford, Ala., had been talking with his wife, Shannon, by Web cam the day he was abducted, said Linda Hill of Locust Fork, whom Millican lived with for 2 1/2 years before graduating high school.
"She heard somebody holler for them to run, and John took off. She said it was later that his computer was logged off," Hill said. Hill said Shannon Millican told her that night her husband had been killed.
Millican, a former high school football player and a member of an airborne artillery brigade, had been in Iraq about three months.
The Mercury News -- BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A 20-year-old Army private from Alabama was among five U.S. troops killed in a reported ambush in Iraq, according to his family.
Jonathan Millican, a 2005 graduate of Locust Fork High School, died in the attack along with three other soldiers and a Marine, the soldier's father, Mitchell Millican, told Birmingham television station WBRC.
"Our hearts go out to their families," the father said.
Millican, a member of an airborne artillery brigade, had been in Iraq about three months. The former high school football player was based at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, where his wife lives.
On his personal page on the MySpace.com social networking site, Millican left the message: "You don't have to love the war but you have to love the warrior."
Army Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Ala.
Pvt. Millican was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karbala, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.
"You don't have to love the war," Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican wrote on his MySpace page, "but you have to love the warrior."
He was one of four soldiers killed after militants abducted them Jan. 20 from the governor's office in Karbala, Iraq, in a sophisticated sneak attack, the military confirmed Friday.
Millican, 20, of Trafford, Ala., had been talking with his wife, Shannon, by Web cam the day he was abducted, said Linda Hill of Locust Fork, whom Millican lived with for 2 1/2 years before graduating high school.
"She heard somebody holler for them to run, and John took off. She said it was later that his computer was logged off," Hill said. Hill said Shannon Millican told her that night her husband had been killed.
Millican, a former high school football player and a member of an airborne artillery brigade, had been in Iraq about three months.
The Mercury News -- BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A 20-year-old Army private from Alabama was among five U.S. troops killed in a reported ambush in Iraq, according to his family.
Jonathan Millican, a 2005 graduate of Locust Fork High School, died in the attack along with three other soldiers and a Marine, the soldier's father, Mitchell Millican, told Birmingham television station WBRC.
"Our hearts go out to their families," the father said.
Millican, a member of an airborne artillery brigade, had been in Iraq about three months. The former high school football player was based at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, where his wife lives.
On his personal page on the MySpace.com social networking site, Millican left the message: "You don't have to love the war but you have to love the warrior."
Army Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Pfc. Shawn P. Falter
Remember Our Heroes
Army Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, N.Y.
Pfc. Falter was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karbala, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.
Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Homer, N.Y., followed three of his older brothers into the Army — all are still on active duty but none currently in Iraq.
One of 13 brothers and sisters, Falter was remembered in his hometown as hardworking but easygoing.
"He knew how to lighten a moment just when you needed it," Homer High School Principal Fred Farah said last week.
On Tuesday, Staff Sgt. Raymond Swift, a military casualty assistance officer, released a statement.
"We are extremely proud of Shawn's service and sacrifice to our country," his family said.
News10 -- Shawn Patrick Falter, a son, a brother, a high school athlete, and, now, a fallen soldier -- Cortland County's first in the Iraq War.
"He was just one of the nicest nicest kids you'll ever want to meet in your life," said Village of Homer Mayor Mike McDermott.
The member of Homer High's Class of '99, Private Falter, 25, was ambushed in the
City of Karbala on Saturday and killed, along with four of his American comrades.
Everyone seemed to love Falter.
"He was the type of kid that you'd hope your daughter would bring home, he was such a nice kid," said McDermott.
Determination defined Falter's life. In high school, he wowed people by stepping onto the basketball court, even with severe ankle problems.
"He did everything he could to overcompensate for any difficulties he was dealt. He would not accept the fact that something was, oh, you can't do that," Larry King, Falter's JHS Principal.
It was his dream to serve and follow his brothers, also service members, into battle. As Homer makes plans to honor Falter, its pride was on display on its marquee for everyone to see.
"The community, and us, we will all miss him," King said.
Shawn Patrick Falter, a nice kid from Homer, now an American Hero taken in the City of Karbala.
Army Pfc. Shawn P. Falter was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, N.Y.
Pfc. Falter was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karbala, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.
Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Homer, N.Y., followed three of his older brothers into the Army — all are still on active duty but none currently in Iraq.
One of 13 brothers and sisters, Falter was remembered in his hometown as hardworking but easygoing.
"He knew how to lighten a moment just when you needed it," Homer High School Principal Fred Farah said last week.
On Tuesday, Staff Sgt. Raymond Swift, a military casualty assistance officer, released a statement.
"We are extremely proud of Shawn's service and sacrifice to our country," his family said.
News10 -- Shawn Patrick Falter, a son, a brother, a high school athlete, and, now, a fallen soldier -- Cortland County's first in the Iraq War.
"He was just one of the nicest nicest kids you'll ever want to meet in your life," said Village of Homer Mayor Mike McDermott.
The member of Homer High's Class of '99, Private Falter, 25, was ambushed in the
City of Karbala on Saturday and killed, along with four of his American comrades.
Everyone seemed to love Falter.
"He was the type of kid that you'd hope your daughter would bring home, he was such a nice kid," said McDermott.
Determination defined Falter's life. In high school, he wowed people by stepping onto the basketball court, even with severe ankle problems.
"He did everything he could to overcompensate for any difficulties he was dealt. He would not accept the fact that something was, oh, you can't do that," Larry King, Falter's JHS Principal.
It was his dream to serve and follow his brothers, also service members, into battle. As Homer makes plans to honor Falter, its pride was on display on its marquee for everyone to see.
"The community, and us, we will all miss him," King said.
Shawn Patrick Falter, a nice kid from Homer, now an American Hero taken in the City of Karbala.
Army Pfc. Shawn P. Falter was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz
Remember Our Heroes
Army 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Neb.
1st. Lt. Fritz was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karbala, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.
Nebraska soldier killed in Iraq
By CINDY LANGE-KUBICK / Lincoln Journal Star
The e-mail arrived Friday.
It came to the Falls City newspaper from a local boy, Army 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz.
"To Friends and Family, I deployed to Iraq back in October 2006 … It has been quite the experience so far." By Sunday, the word was out: Jacob was dead, killed Saturday in an ambush in Karbala, Iraq.
He was 25.
He was a small town son made good, family spokesperson Karen Mezger said Monday.
“From a little boy on he knew what he wanted and he worked to get there.”
He wanted to be a leader. And he wanted a career in the military.
In 2000, he graduated from Dawson-Verdon High School, active in everything. Speech. Drama. Basketball. Football. Track. Singing. Band.
He organized drug-free parties and dances, even taking a leadership role at the state level.
“He was the kind of kid other kids wanted to follow.”
In 2005, he graduated from the West Point military academy, on his way.
"I was trained to be a Field Artillery officer, but I have found myself acting as a liaison officer between the Iraqi police in Karbala to the U.S. forces on my Forward Operating Base…"
On Saturday, 25 U.S. troops were killed — the third deadliest day since the war began in 2003.
Fritz is one of 38 U.S. service members with Nebraska connections who have died in military operations in Afghanistan or Iraq since Sept. 11, 2001.
"My guys have gotten to know a lot of the Iraqi police that we work side-by-side with here in Karbala. We have made some really good friends, and are getting to know more and more about each other everyday."
His parents were so proud of him, Mezger said.
“They would definitely want everyone to know that he loved the military and that was his passion. That was his dream.”
His mom sent the e-mail to the Falls City Journal at her son’s request.
He wanted to share his experiences — and thank the community, said the paper’s publisher Scott Schock.
Regardless of when we come home, my soldiers and I want you all to know that we couldn’t have made it this far through the deployment without your support back home.
He ended the e-mail this way:
We all thank you very much and wish that you all have a safe rest of the year.
Fritz is survived by his parents, Lyle and Noala Fritz of rural Verdon, and two younger brothers, Daniel, a third-year cadet at West Point, and Ethan, an eighth-grader.
Army 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Neb.
1st. Lt. Fritz was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karbala, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.
Nebraska soldier killed in Iraq
By CINDY LANGE-KUBICK / Lincoln Journal Star
The e-mail arrived Friday.
It came to the Falls City newspaper from a local boy, Army 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz.
"To Friends and Family, I deployed to Iraq back in October 2006 … It has been quite the experience so far." By Sunday, the word was out: Jacob was dead, killed Saturday in an ambush in Karbala, Iraq.
He was 25.
He was a small town son made good, family spokesperson Karen Mezger said Monday.
“From a little boy on he knew what he wanted and he worked to get there.”
He wanted to be a leader. And he wanted a career in the military.
In 2000, he graduated from Dawson-Verdon High School, active in everything. Speech. Drama. Basketball. Football. Track. Singing. Band.
He organized drug-free parties and dances, even taking a leadership role at the state level.
“He was the kind of kid other kids wanted to follow.”
In 2005, he graduated from the West Point military academy, on his way.
"I was trained to be a Field Artillery officer, but I have found myself acting as a liaison officer between the Iraqi police in Karbala to the U.S. forces on my Forward Operating Base…"
On Saturday, 25 U.S. troops were killed — the third deadliest day since the war began in 2003.
Fritz is one of 38 U.S. service members with Nebraska connections who have died in military operations in Afghanistan or Iraq since Sept. 11, 2001.
"My guys have gotten to know a lot of the Iraqi police that we work side-by-side with here in Karbala. We have made some really good friends, and are getting to know more and more about each other everyday."
His parents were so proud of him, Mezger said.
“They would definitely want everyone to know that he loved the military and that was his passion. That was his dream.”
His mom sent the e-mail to the Falls City Journal at her son’s request.
He wanted to share his experiences — and thank the community, said the paper’s publisher Scott Schock.
Regardless of when we come home, my soldiers and I want you all to know that we couldn’t have made it this far through the deployment without your support back home.
He ended the e-mail this way:
We all thank you very much and wish that you all have a safe rest of the year.
Fritz is survived by his parents, Lyle and Noala Fritz of rural Verdon, and two younger brothers, Daniel, a third-year cadet at West Point, and Ethan, an eighth-grader.
Army 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Specialist Johnathan B. Chism
Remember Our Heroes
Army Specialist Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, La.
Spc. Chism was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karbala, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.
Spc. Johnathan Bryan Chism, 22, of Prairieville, La., was a Boy Scout who enjoyed skydiving and rock climbing and became an artillery specialist in the Army.
He "liked anybody and everybody," his mother, Elizabeth Chism, said Sunday. He had been due to come home next month for two weeks of rest and relaxation, she said.
"Right now we have not had any official word form the military" Chism's sister, Julie Andexler, said when asked in a brief telephone interview about Friday's report. She said the family would have no other comment until they have been briefed by the military.
Spc. Johnathan Bryan Chism, 22, of Prairieville, La.: He was an artillery specialist on his first tour of duty in Iraq. His family, including his sister, who is also stationed in Iraq, was gathering in Prairieville Monday night, according to local news reports. He joined the Army in March 2005 and had been in Alaska since August of that year.
On his myspace.com page , decorated with Louisiana State University football photos, he says he likes motorcycles, country and metal music and jumping out of airplanes ("I get paid for that one.") His mother's MySpace page says, "My Heart is in Iraq."
Chism wrote her Jan. 5: "Love you and miss you mom. Can't wait till Feb."
That's when he was due to come home on leave.
Army Specialist Johnathan B. Chism was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Specialist Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, La.
Spc. Chism was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karbala, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.
Spc. Johnathan Bryan Chism, 22, of Prairieville, La., was a Boy Scout who enjoyed skydiving and rock climbing and became an artillery specialist in the Army.
He "liked anybody and everybody," his mother, Elizabeth Chism, said Sunday. He had been due to come home next month for two weeks of rest and relaxation, she said.
"Right now we have not had any official word form the military" Chism's sister, Julie Andexler, said when asked in a brief telephone interview about Friday's report. She said the family would have no other comment until they have been briefed by the military.
Spc. Johnathan Bryan Chism, 22, of Prairieville, La.: He was an artillery specialist on his first tour of duty in Iraq. His family, including his sister, who is also stationed in Iraq, was gathering in Prairieville Monday night, according to local news reports. He joined the Army in March 2005 and had been in Alaska since August of that year.
On his myspace.com page , decorated with Louisiana State University football photos, he says he likes motorcycles, country and metal music and jumping out of airplanes ("I get paid for that one.") His mother's MySpace page says, "My Heart is in Iraq."
Chism wrote her Jan. 5: "Love you and miss you mom. Can't wait till Feb."
That's when he was due to come home on leave.
Army Specialist Johnathan B. Chism was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Pfc. Ryan J. Hill
Remember Our Heroes
Army Pfc. Ryan J. Hill, 20, of Keizer, Ore.
Pfc. Hill was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; died Jan. 20 in Baghdad of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
The Oregonian -- A 20-year-old soldier from Keizer died Saturday in Iraq, one of two Oregonians to perish in a spate of violence that broke out over the weekend in the war-torn nation.
Army Pfc. Ryan J. Hill was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad.
Hill, who attended McNary High School, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany, according to a U.S. Department of Defense announcement Tuesday.
His mother, Shawna L. Hill, was too broken up to speak about her son's death, according to a family friend who gave his name only as "Scooter." He provided no other details about Ryan Hill.
Hill was on his first tour in Iraq when he was killed. He is the 78th military member with strong ties to Oregon or Southwest Washington to be killed in Iraq.
Sgt. Sean Patrick Fennerty, 25, of Portland also was killed Saturday; his death was announced Monday. Fennerty, a 1999 graduate of Jesuit High School and a 2004 graduate of Oregon State University, was in a Humvee that was struck by a roadside bomb in Anbar province.
A Mass of Christian burial for Fennerty will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, in the Knight Center at Jesuit High School.
On Hill's account at MySpace, an online social networking Web site used mostly by young people, the soldier wrote almost exclusively about his family life and friends.
According to his page, he grew up with his mother and sister and attended McNary High. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, so he joined the Army.
About being in Iraq, he wrote: "It is walking on that thin line between sanity and insanity. That feeling of total abandonment by a government and a country you used to love because politics are fighting the war . . . and it's a losing battle . . . and we're the ones ultimately paying the price."
He spoke of his love for his fellow soldiers and his family and of the several kinds of music he liked.
Hill and Fennerty were among the victims of a wave of sectarian violence that's been rising in recent days. More than 30 U.S. military members have died in Iraq since Saturday.
Army Pfc. Ryan J. Hill was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Pfc. Ryan J. Hill, 20, of Keizer, Ore.
Pfc. Hill was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; died Jan. 20 in Baghdad of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
The Oregonian -- A 20-year-old soldier from Keizer died Saturday in Iraq, one of two Oregonians to perish in a spate of violence that broke out over the weekend in the war-torn nation.
Army Pfc. Ryan J. Hill was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad.
Hill, who attended McNary High School, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany, according to a U.S. Department of Defense announcement Tuesday.
His mother, Shawna L. Hill, was too broken up to speak about her son's death, according to a family friend who gave his name only as "Scooter." He provided no other details about Ryan Hill.
Hill was on his first tour in Iraq when he was killed. He is the 78th military member with strong ties to Oregon or Southwest Washington to be killed in Iraq.
Sgt. Sean Patrick Fennerty, 25, of Portland also was killed Saturday; his death was announced Monday. Fennerty, a 1999 graduate of Jesuit High School and a 2004 graduate of Oregon State University, was in a Humvee that was struck by a roadside bomb in Anbar province.
A Mass of Christian burial for Fennerty will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, in the Knight Center at Jesuit High School.
On Hill's account at MySpace, an online social networking Web site used mostly by young people, the soldier wrote almost exclusively about his family life and friends.
According to his page, he grew up with his mother and sister and attended McNary High. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, so he joined the Army.
About being in Iraq, he wrote: "It is walking on that thin line between sanity and insanity. That feeling of total abandonment by a government and a country you used to love because politics are fighting the war . . . and it's a losing battle . . . and we're the ones ultimately paying the price."
He spoke of his love for his fellow soldiers and his family and of the several kinds of music he liked.
Hill and Fennerty were among the victims of a wave of sectarian violence that's been rising in recent days. More than 30 U.S. military members have died in Iraq since Saturday.
Army Pfc. Ryan J. Hill was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill, 22, of Sunrise, Fla.
Sgt. McNeill was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karma, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
Sgt. Phillip McNeill, 22, a combat medic paratrooper from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Sunrise, Fla. was killed Saturday by roadside bomb near Karmah outside Baghdad.
McNeill, a member of a military family, went to Iraq in September. It was his second tour of duty. His mother said that when the family sent care packages, he insisted they send enough cookies or clean bedsheets for everyone in his unit.
His stepfather, Jeff Fiely, is a deputy sheriff and an Army Reserve warrant officer whose deployments overseas included Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Cincinnati Post.
McNeill was with the Army's 4th Brigade Airborne Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which deployed to Iraq from Alaska last fall.
The family of an Ohio native says the soldier was killed Saturday in Iraq when an explosive struck his Humvee in Al Anbar province.
US Army Sergeant Phillip McNeill was deployed to Iraq in September for a second tour of duty after about three years in the military.
The 22-year-old had most recently been stationed in Wainwright, Alaska.
The US Department of Defense had not yet confirmed the death.
McNeill's mother and stepfather live in Clermont County in southwest Ohio.
His father lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
His mother says McNeill insisted that she include enough cookies or other goodies in care packages for everyone in his unit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Cincinnati native was killed in Iraq on the deadliest day for the military there in two years.
Army Sergeant Phillip McNeill was from Kenwood and still has family in the Tri-state.
9News spoke with Clermont County Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg who said that Phillip, his older brother Chris and their step-father Jeff Fieley, all considered it an honor to serve their county.
Sgt. McNeill was just 22 years old when he died Saturday after a roadside bomb exploded outside his humvee.
His stepfather went to the Clermont County Sheriff's Office to tell Sheriff Rodenberg about the sad news in person.
Sheriff Rodenberg said, "It's really overwhelming to me at times. I get very upset about it."
Rodenberg's own son, Nick, was in Iraq at the time Phillip McNeill was.
The parents talked about concerns for their sons and Rodenberg said Nick is wrestling with the news of Sgt. McNeill's death.
"He has issues with that, we've talked several times about why he came back and others haven't. It's perplexing, our boy is spared and other men and women aren't spared."
Sgt. McNeill died the same day 24 other members of the military lost their lives in Iraq.
Sheriff Rodenberg said the total number of lives touched is incredible.
"I just think of our son, anybody's son who dies. How many people would that death affect? Add brothers sisters aunts uncles classmates, neighbors, we're talking for every life lost hundreds are touched."
Sgt. McNeill's stepfather, Jeff Fiely, in addition to being a sheriff's deputy, is still in the military.
He returned from a mission in South America just today, and then got the news about his stepson
Army Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill was killed on 1/20/07.
Army Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill, 22, of Sunrise, Fla.
Sgt. McNeill was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karma, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
Sgt. Phillip McNeill, 22, a combat medic paratrooper from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Sunrise, Fla. was killed Saturday by roadside bomb near Karmah outside Baghdad.
McNeill, a member of a military family, went to Iraq in September. It was his second tour of duty. His mother said that when the family sent care packages, he insisted they send enough cookies or clean bedsheets for everyone in his unit.
His stepfather, Jeff Fiely, is a deputy sheriff and an Army Reserve warrant officer whose deployments overseas included Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Cincinnati Post.
McNeill was with the Army's 4th Brigade Airborne Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which deployed to Iraq from Alaska last fall.
The family of an Ohio native says the soldier was killed Saturday in Iraq when an explosive struck his Humvee in Al Anbar province.
US Army Sergeant Phillip McNeill was deployed to Iraq in September for a second tour of duty after about three years in the military.
The 22-year-old had most recently been stationed in Wainwright, Alaska.
The US Department of Defense had not yet confirmed the death.
McNeill's mother and stepfather live in Clermont County in southwest Ohio.
His father lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
His mother says McNeill insisted that she include enough cookies or other goodies in care packages for everyone in his unit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Cincinnati native was killed in Iraq on the deadliest day for the military there in two years.
Army Sergeant Phillip McNeill was from Kenwood and still has family in the Tri-state.
9News spoke with Clermont County Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg who said that Phillip, his older brother Chris and their step-father Jeff Fieley, all considered it an honor to serve their county.
Sgt. McNeill was just 22 years old when he died Saturday after a roadside bomb exploded outside his humvee.
His stepfather went to the Clermont County Sheriff's Office to tell Sheriff Rodenberg about the sad news in person.
Sheriff Rodenberg said, "It's really overwhelming to me at times. I get very upset about it."
Rodenberg's own son, Nick, was in Iraq at the time Phillip McNeill was.
The parents talked about concerns for their sons and Rodenberg said Nick is wrestling with the news of Sgt. McNeill's death.
"He has issues with that, we've talked several times about why he came back and others haven't. It's perplexing, our boy is spared and other men and women aren't spared."
Sgt. McNeill died the same day 24 other members of the military lost their lives in Iraq.
Sheriff Rodenberg said the total number of lives touched is incredible.
"I just think of our son, anybody's son who dies. How many people would that death affect? Add brothers sisters aunts uncles classmates, neighbors, we're talking for every life lost hundreds are touched."
Sgt. McNeill's stepfather, Jeff Fiely, in addition to being a sheriff's deputy, is still in the military.
He returned from a mission in South America just today, and then got the news about his stepson
Army Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill was killed on 1/20/07.
Army Specialist Toby R. Olsen
Remember Our Heroes
Army Specialist Toby R. Olsen, 28, of Manchester, N.H.
Spc. Olsen was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karma, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
Army Spc. Toby Olsen nurtured dream of being an artist
By Mary Adamski
A former Mililani resident died Saturday in Iraq, one of four soldiers killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near their Army Humvee in Karma.
Army Spc. Toby Olsen, 28, a 1997 graduate of Mililani High School, is the 128th person with Hawaii ties to be killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. He was based in Fort Richardson, Alaska, and deployed to Iraq in October with the 3rd Battalion, 509 Infantry (Airborne) Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
Olsen's death came 13 days after he returned to the war zone from a two-week holiday visit with his family in Germany, said his uncle, Robert Olsen of Mililani. Toby Olsen's father, Army Col. James "Mike" Olsen, is an ophthalmologist at the U.S. Army Hospital in Heidelberg. It was the first time Toby, his father, mother Lis and sister Tanya were together since he joined the Army in late 2005, said Robert Olsen.
In a message to his family before he returned to war from his Christmas leave, Toby Olsen wrote that he planned to pursue his dream of being an artist, saying, "I now conform to ideas instead of imagine, and destroy instead of create."
He had "a newfound level of respect for the freedoms I once had," he wrote. "Hope I live long enough to enjoy them again."
Robert Olsen said: "Toby was here for junior high and high school, then he went off to school at the Savannah College of Art (and Design) in Georgia. He definitely intended to return to Hawaii to teach art.
"He was reserved, but when he knew you, a friendly, witty guy. He was more of an artist, poet, philosopher," said Robert Olsen. "We couldn't understand him taking the path (the Army). He was trying to make ends meet; it was something to give him a further education."
Robert Olsen said his nephew's best friend, a member of the same Alaska-based unit, was killed while Toby was on holiday leave, the 3,000th American victim of the Iraq war. He was Spc. Dustin Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas.
Toby Olsen is the grandson of John C. and Hiroko Olsen of Wahiawa. His survivors include uncles Robert of Hawaii and John of Texas, and aunt Sharla Beil of San Francisco.
The Army announcement of the Jan. 20 deaths listed Olsen as a resident of Manchester, N.H. Also killed in the explosion were Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty, 25, of Corvallis, Ore.; Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill, 22, of Sunrise, Fla.; and Spc. Jeffrey D. Bisson, 22, of Vista, Calif.
Soldier was driven by creative expression
Army Spc. Toby Olsen wrote about his desire to return to a creative life as an artist. In a message to relatives when he returned to the Iraq battle zone, he wrote:
"Happiness, in the broadest scope of the word, encompasses the feelings which personally give us as individuals fulfillment and joy to that which just takes the pain away for a little while. I believe in life, you need contrast too. I think you can't be truly happy until you have been truly unhappy.
"I am an artist, I strive to create and enjoy almost nothing more than to sit having all the time and freedom in the world and create. I hit a point in life where though my art wasn't fulfilling anymore, it felt empty. I suddenly had too much freedom and too much time, so took the most opposite direction I legally could with my life: I joined the Army.
"Now my time is run by the minute; there is almost no room for creativity. I now conform to ideas instead of imagine, and destroy instead of create. The contrast thus far has led to a strong resurgence of my former drives and desire to create, as well as a newfound level of respect for the freedoms I once had.
"Hope I live long enough to enjoy them again."
Army Specialist Toby R. Olsen was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Specialist Toby R. Olsen, 28, of Manchester, N.H.
Spc. Olsen was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karma, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
Army Spc. Toby Olsen nurtured dream of being an artist
By Mary Adamski
A former Mililani resident died Saturday in Iraq, one of four soldiers killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near their Army Humvee in Karma.
Army Spc. Toby Olsen, 28, a 1997 graduate of Mililani High School, is the 128th person with Hawaii ties to be killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. He was based in Fort Richardson, Alaska, and deployed to Iraq in October with the 3rd Battalion, 509 Infantry (Airborne) Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
Olsen's death came 13 days after he returned to the war zone from a two-week holiday visit with his family in Germany, said his uncle, Robert Olsen of Mililani. Toby Olsen's father, Army Col. James "Mike" Olsen, is an ophthalmologist at the U.S. Army Hospital in Heidelberg. It was the first time Toby, his father, mother Lis and sister Tanya were together since he joined the Army in late 2005, said Robert Olsen.
In a message to his family before he returned to war from his Christmas leave, Toby Olsen wrote that he planned to pursue his dream of being an artist, saying, "I now conform to ideas instead of imagine, and destroy instead of create."
He had "a newfound level of respect for the freedoms I once had," he wrote. "Hope I live long enough to enjoy them again."
Robert Olsen said: "Toby was here for junior high and high school, then he went off to school at the Savannah College of Art (and Design) in Georgia. He definitely intended to return to Hawaii to teach art.
"He was reserved, but when he knew you, a friendly, witty guy. He was more of an artist, poet, philosopher," said Robert Olsen. "We couldn't understand him taking the path (the Army). He was trying to make ends meet; it was something to give him a further education."
Robert Olsen said his nephew's best friend, a member of the same Alaska-based unit, was killed while Toby was on holiday leave, the 3,000th American victim of the Iraq war. He was Spc. Dustin Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas.
Toby Olsen is the grandson of John C. and Hiroko Olsen of Wahiawa. His survivors include uncles Robert of Hawaii and John of Texas, and aunt Sharla Beil of San Francisco.
The Army announcement of the Jan. 20 deaths listed Olsen as a resident of Manchester, N.H. Also killed in the explosion were Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty, 25, of Corvallis, Ore.; Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill, 22, of Sunrise, Fla.; and Spc. Jeffrey D. Bisson, 22, of Vista, Calif.
Soldier was driven by creative expression
Army Spc. Toby Olsen wrote about his desire to return to a creative life as an artist. In a message to relatives when he returned to the Iraq battle zone, he wrote:
"Happiness, in the broadest scope of the word, encompasses the feelings which personally give us as individuals fulfillment and joy to that which just takes the pain away for a little while. I believe in life, you need contrast too. I think you can't be truly happy until you have been truly unhappy.
"I am an artist, I strive to create and enjoy almost nothing more than to sit having all the time and freedom in the world and create. I hit a point in life where though my art wasn't fulfilling anymore, it felt empty. I suddenly had too much freedom and too much time, so took the most opposite direction I legally could with my life: I joined the Army.
"Now my time is run by the minute; there is almost no room for creativity. I now conform to ideas instead of imagine, and destroy instead of create. The contrast thus far has led to a strong resurgence of my former drives and desire to create, as well as a newfound level of respect for the freedoms I once had.
"Hope I live long enough to enjoy them again."
Army Specialist Toby R. Olsen was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty, 25, of Corvallis, Ore.
Sgt. Fennerty was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karma, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
SALEM - U.S. Army Sgt. Sean Fennerty of Portland has been killed in combat in Iraq, the Oregon Military Department said Monday.
Fennerty, 26, died Saturday in Al Anbar Province when the vehicle he was in was struck by a roadside bomb or IED (improvised explosive device), officials said.
Fennerty was an airborne soldier stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska with the 25th Infantry Division.
Fennerty grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and Portland. He graduated from Jesuit High School in Portland in 1999 and Oregon State University in 2004 as a history major.
According to a list kept by Gov. Ted Kulongoski's office, Fennerty is the 78th soldier from Oregon or with close Oregon ties to die in the Iraq war.
"Fennerty loved to ski, fish and spend time with his friends and always wanted to be in the military and serve his country as he felt this was part of honor and service," the Military Department statement said.
Sean is survived by his mother Mo, father Brian, two sisters, Kelly of Seattle and Colleen of Chicago, IL, and brother Conor of Washington D.C.
The following statement mourning the loss of Sgt. Sean Fennerty, who was killed in Iraq, was released by Jesuit High School.
It is with deep sadness that Jesuit High School has learned of the death of Sgt. Sean Fennerty of the Class of 1999.
Sean is remembered as a faith-filled person who participated in all areas of the school. He took it upon himself to strengthen the school community with his generous and giving spirit. These qualities enabled him to be a friend too many faculty and students while he attended Jesuit.
His classmates will miss his sense of humor and deep sense of loyalty to them. His awareness of duty to make our world a better place is what led him into the military service of our country.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Sean's parents, sisters, brother, and the extended Fennerty family during this difficult time.
Army Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty, 25, of Corvallis, Ore.
Sgt. Fennerty was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karma, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
SALEM - U.S. Army Sgt. Sean Fennerty of Portland has been killed in combat in Iraq, the Oregon Military Department said Monday.
Fennerty, 26, died Saturday in Al Anbar Province when the vehicle he was in was struck by a roadside bomb or IED (improvised explosive device), officials said.
Fennerty was an airborne soldier stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska with the 25th Infantry Division.
Fennerty grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and Portland. He graduated from Jesuit High School in Portland in 1999 and Oregon State University in 2004 as a history major.
According to a list kept by Gov. Ted Kulongoski's office, Fennerty is the 78th soldier from Oregon or with close Oregon ties to die in the Iraq war.
"Fennerty loved to ski, fish and spend time with his friends and always wanted to be in the military and serve his country as he felt this was part of honor and service," the Military Department statement said.
Sean is survived by his mother Mo, father Brian, two sisters, Kelly of Seattle and Colleen of Chicago, IL, and brother Conor of Washington D.C.
The following statement mourning the loss of Sgt. Sean Fennerty, who was killed in Iraq, was released by Jesuit High School.
It is with deep sadness that Jesuit High School has learned of the death of Sgt. Sean Fennerty of the Class of 1999.
Sean is remembered as a faith-filled person who participated in all areas of the school. He took it upon himself to strengthen the school community with his generous and giving spirit. These qualities enabled him to be a friend too many faculty and students while he attended Jesuit.
His classmates will miss his sense of humor and deep sense of loyalty to them. His awareness of duty to make our world a better place is what led him into the military service of our country.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Sean's parents, sisters, brother, and the extended Fennerty family during this difficult time.
Army Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Specialist Jeffrey D. Bisson
Remember Our Heroes
Army Specialist Jeffrey D. Bisson, 22, of Vista, Calif.
Spc. Bisson was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karma, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
Soldier on patrol in Iraq killed by bomb
By Steve Liewer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 25, 2007
An odd sensation settled over Rebecca Bisson last Saturday as she sat awake and alone in her military apartment.
She'd been married for only six months to Army Spc. Jeffrey Bisson of Vista before he left their base in Alaska for a yearlong tour in Iraq. His unit – the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division – had suffered since arriving in the Fallujah area, losing more than 20 soldiers.
In an instant, Rebecca sensed that everything had changed.
“I felt a hug and a kiss on my cheek,” she said. “Right then, I knew my husband was gone.”
Later that day, two Army officers knocked on her door to tell her the news she already knew: Jeffrey Bisson, 22, died Saturday from injuries caused by a roadside bomb that exploded near his Humvee.
His death left her a 19-year-old widow.
Yesterday, Rebecca arrived at the Vista home of Jeffrey's parents, Rick and Laurie Bisson, to plan her husband's funeral. On a coffee table, the parents had spread photos of their smiling, round-faced son in happier times: Jeff as a Boy Scout, Jeff in his Army dress uniform, Jeff mugging, cheek-to-cheek, with his wife.
The Bisson family lived in Carlsbad when Jeff was born and moved to Vista eight years ago. Rick Bisson said his son bowled and played baseball, football and soccer, but that Boy Scouting became his passion. Jeff had earned the rank of Eagle Scout by the time he graduated from Rancho Buena Vista High School in 2003 with a 3.8 grade point average.
Scouting led Jeff to edgy outdoor pursuits such as rock-climbing and, eventually, the sport that captured his fancy: skydiving. He loved nothing more than falling out of the sky.
Rick Bisson still remembers his son's first jump.
“(Jeff) had the biggest grin on his face. He was just floating,” he said.
Before Jeff died, he had completed about 300 jumps – 200 of them for sport. He acknowledged his recklessness in the self-profile he posted on MySpace.com in 2004.
“Some people say I am a little on the crazy side when it comes to the stuff I do for fun,” he wrote. “But hey, I like to live my life on the edge a little. So you can say I am a very big thrill seeker.”
Jeff's yen for travel and his love of skydiving drew him toward the Army, the service in which both his grandfathers had served. His parents tried to steer him in a different direction, but he was determined. He shed 100 pounds from his 275-pound frame so the Army would take him.
“I really didn't want him to go. I said, 'Stay here!' ” Laurie Bisson said. “This is what he wanted to do, so I honored his wishes.”
Jeff qualified as an airborne paratrooper, and the Army sent him to Fort Richardson in Alaska. Rebecca, an Anchorage native, discovered his MySpace profile and finally mustered the courage to meet him in August 2005. They hit it off instantly.
“He seemed like a fun-loving guy I could talk to and care about,” Rebecca said. “We've been pretty much inseparable ever since.”
Ignoring the advice of their families, Jeff and Rebecca married last April on a snow-swept mountaintop overlooking Anchorage. In September, they visited Vista so Jeff could say goodbye to his friends and family before he left for Iraq.
At first, his unit camped in a relatively calm zone south of Baghdad. By December, Jeff had moved to an insurgent-infested area near Fallujah. He suffered several close calls. One day, for example, a bomb killed a soldier who had taken his place on a mission.
“He was very, very scared,” Rebecca said, “but he believed in the cause. He said, 'I may not come home, but I believe in what I'm doing.' ”
Jeff died when a bomb went off while he was riding on a patrol. Three other soldiers died with him: Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty, 25, of Corvallis, Ore., a San Diego native; Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill, 22, of Sunrise, Fla.; and Spc. Toby R. Olsen, 28, of Manchester, N.H. A fifth man was injured, Rebecca said.
Jeff's parents said his body is now in Dover, Del., and will be shipped to Vista later this week. They haven't decided on funeral plans.
Besides his parents and his wife, Jeff is survived by an 18-year-old brother, Christopher, and a 4-year-old son, Andrew, of Oceanside, from a previous relationship.
His grandmother, Janice Tice of Vista, cried at the idea of burying a grandson.
“You try to protect them when they're little. They go to school, you worry about them. They learn to drive, you worry about them,” she said. “But we couldn't protect him from the war.”
Army Specialist Jeffrey D. Bisson was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Specialist Jeffrey D. Bisson, 22, of Vista, Calif.
Spc. Bisson was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died Jan. 20 in Karma, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
Soldier on patrol in Iraq killed by bomb
By Steve Liewer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 25, 2007
An odd sensation settled over Rebecca Bisson last Saturday as she sat awake and alone in her military apartment.
She'd been married for only six months to Army Spc. Jeffrey Bisson of Vista before he left their base in Alaska for a yearlong tour in Iraq. His unit – the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division – had suffered since arriving in the Fallujah area, losing more than 20 soldiers.
In an instant, Rebecca sensed that everything had changed.
“I felt a hug and a kiss on my cheek,” she said. “Right then, I knew my husband was gone.”
Later that day, two Army officers knocked on her door to tell her the news she already knew: Jeffrey Bisson, 22, died Saturday from injuries caused by a roadside bomb that exploded near his Humvee.
His death left her a 19-year-old widow.
Yesterday, Rebecca arrived at the Vista home of Jeffrey's parents, Rick and Laurie Bisson, to plan her husband's funeral. On a coffee table, the parents had spread photos of their smiling, round-faced son in happier times: Jeff as a Boy Scout, Jeff in his Army dress uniform, Jeff mugging, cheek-to-cheek, with his wife.
The Bisson family lived in Carlsbad when Jeff was born and moved to Vista eight years ago. Rick Bisson said his son bowled and played baseball, football and soccer, but that Boy Scouting became his passion. Jeff had earned the rank of Eagle Scout by the time he graduated from Rancho Buena Vista High School in 2003 with a 3.8 grade point average.
Scouting led Jeff to edgy outdoor pursuits such as rock-climbing and, eventually, the sport that captured his fancy: skydiving. He loved nothing more than falling out of the sky.
Rick Bisson still remembers his son's first jump.
“(Jeff) had the biggest grin on his face. He was just floating,” he said.
Before Jeff died, he had completed about 300 jumps – 200 of them for sport. He acknowledged his recklessness in the self-profile he posted on MySpace.com in 2004.
“Some people say I am a little on the crazy side when it comes to the stuff I do for fun,” he wrote. “But hey, I like to live my life on the edge a little. So you can say I am a very big thrill seeker.”
Jeff's yen for travel and his love of skydiving drew him toward the Army, the service in which both his grandfathers had served. His parents tried to steer him in a different direction, but he was determined. He shed 100 pounds from his 275-pound frame so the Army would take him.
“I really didn't want him to go. I said, 'Stay here!' ” Laurie Bisson said. “This is what he wanted to do, so I honored his wishes.”
Jeff qualified as an airborne paratrooper, and the Army sent him to Fort Richardson in Alaska. Rebecca, an Anchorage native, discovered his MySpace profile and finally mustered the courage to meet him in August 2005. They hit it off instantly.
“He seemed like a fun-loving guy I could talk to and care about,” Rebecca said. “We've been pretty much inseparable ever since.”
Ignoring the advice of their families, Jeff and Rebecca married last April on a snow-swept mountaintop overlooking Anchorage. In September, they visited Vista so Jeff could say goodbye to his friends and family before he left for Iraq.
At first, his unit camped in a relatively calm zone south of Baghdad. By December, Jeff had moved to an insurgent-infested area near Fallujah. He suffered several close calls. One day, for example, a bomb killed a soldier who had taken his place on a mission.
“He was very, very scared,” Rebecca said, “but he believed in the cause. He said, 'I may not come home, but I believe in what I'm doing.' ”
Jeff died when a bomb went off while he was riding on a patrol. Three other soldiers died with him: Sgt. Sean P. Fennerty, 25, of Corvallis, Ore., a San Diego native; Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill, 22, of Sunrise, Fla.; and Spc. Toby R. Olsen, 28, of Manchester, N.H. A fifth man was injured, Rebecca said.
Jeff's parents said his body is now in Dover, Del., and will be shipped to Vista later this week. They haven't decided on funeral plans.
Besides his parents and his wife, Jeff is survived by an 18-year-old brother, Christopher, and a 4-year-old son, Andrew, of Oceanside, from a previous relationship.
His grandmother, Janice Tice of Vista, cried at the idea of burying a grandson.
“You try to protect them when they're little. They go to school, you worry about them. They learn to drive, you worry about them,” she said. “But we couldn't protect him from the war.”
Army Specialist Jeffrey D. Bisson was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown, 43, of Little Rock, Ark.
SFC Brown was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Ark.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20, 2007 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed. Also killed were Col. Brian D. Allgood, Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker, Lt. Col. David C. Canegata, Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller, Col. Paul M. Kelly, Staff Sgt. Floyd E. Lake, Cpl. Victor M. Langarica, Capt. Sean E. Lyerly, Maj. Michael V. Taylor and 1st Sgt. William T. Warren.
Gold star flag, plaques presented to guard in honor of fallen
The Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe says dealing with grief-stricken military families is one of the toughest jobs in his role as the state’s leader.
So when the family of Sgt. 1st Class John Gary Brown of Little Rock asked the state Department of Veterans Affairs for help in obtaining a custom-made red-and-white flag with a gold star, state officials and a Veterans of Foreign Wars post hustled to comply.
“The most difficult job you have as governor is making phone calls to family members, particularly to widows, of fallen soldiers,” Beebe said. “And so it’s appropriate when we honor those fallen soldiers, we try to honor the requests of those families.”
On Tuesday, Beebe, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9095, and Fred Steube of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs presented the flag and three plaques to Maj. Gen. Bill Wofford, adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard.
Wofford will then pass on the honorary items to the fallen soldiers’ families, Beebe said.
The three plaques are in honor of Brown, Maj. Michael V. Taylor and Sgt. William Tom Warren, who were among 12 soldiers killed when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq.
All three were members of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment of the 77th Aviation Brigade. The deaths were the first casualties for the 77th, military officials said.
The crash also killed nine soldiers from Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, military officials said.
The flag was designed by Arkansas Flag and Banner Company. The plaques, from the Veterans of Foreign Wars national headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., honor the three soldiers for their bravery and valor.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown was killed in action on 1/20/07.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown, 43, of Little Rock, Ark.
SFC Brown was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Ark.; died in Baghdad on Jan. 20, 2007 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in crashed. Also killed were Col. Brian D. Allgood, Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker, Lt. Col. David C. Canegata, Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller, Col. Paul M. Kelly, Staff Sgt. Floyd E. Lake, Cpl. Victor M. Langarica, Capt. Sean E. Lyerly, Maj. Michael V. Taylor and 1st Sgt. William T. Warren.
Gold star flag, plaques presented to guard in honor of fallen
The Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe says dealing with grief-stricken military families is one of the toughest jobs in his role as the state’s leader.
So when the family of Sgt. 1st Class John Gary Brown of Little Rock asked the state Department of Veterans Affairs for help in obtaining a custom-made red-and-white flag with a gold star, state officials and a Veterans of Foreign Wars post hustled to comply.
“The most difficult job you have as governor is making phone calls to family members, particularly to widows, of fallen soldiers,” Beebe said. “And so it’s appropriate when we honor those fallen soldiers, we try to honor the requests of those families.”
On Tuesday, Beebe, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9095, and Fred Steube of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs presented the flag and three plaques to Maj. Gen. Bill Wofford, adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard.
Wofford will then pass on the honorary items to the fallen soldiers’ families, Beebe said.
The three plaques are in honor of Brown, Maj. Michael V. Taylor and Sgt. William Tom Warren, who were among 12 soldiers killed when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq.
All three were members of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment of the 77th Aviation Brigade. The deaths were the first casualties for the 77th, military officials said.
The crash also killed nine soldiers from Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, military officials said.
The flag was designed by Arkansas Flag and Banner Company. The plaques, from the Veterans of Foreign Wars national headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., honor the three soldiers for their bravery and valor.
Army Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown was killed in action on 1/20/07.
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