Army Master Sgt. Sean M. Thomas

Remember Our Heroes

Army Master Sgt. Sean M. Thomas, 33, of Harrisburg, Pa.

MSgt Thomas was assigned to the 28th Division Support Command, Harrisburg, Pa.; died March 27, 2007 in Baghdad when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using indirect fire during combat operations.

Pa. guardsman killed in Baghdad’s Green Zone
The Associated Press

HUGHESVILLE, Pa. — A National Guardsman from north-central Pennsylvania was killed in Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone when a rocket exploded over his head, officials said.

Sgt. 1st Class Sean Michael Thomas, 33, died March 27, less than a year after he returned from duty in Afghanistan. He was serving with the Harrisburg-based 28th Division Support Command.

“He loved his wife, his family and his new baby,” said his mother, Diana Thomas. “He was the first person to smile and make a joke and his entire family will miss him terribly.”

Thomas’ wife, Carrie, is a sergeant in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. His daughter, Alexa, is 6 months old.

The unit’s commander, Col. Jesse Deets, called Thomas a model officer and friend.

“We have lost one of our family members, and it hurts more than you will ever know,” Deets said in a statement released by the office of Gov. Ed Rendell. “Sean can be proud that we did not drop the flag as a result of his sacrifice; he would have it no other way.”

Thomas and an American contractor were killed in the rocket attack, which wounded five others, including a second soldier and contractor.

Thomas joined the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1998 after six years in the Army Reserve. He worked full-time at a Fort Indiantown Gap office.

He had been planning to attend Officer Candidates School in October and wanted to be a teacher when he returned to civilian life, Diana Thomas said.

Thomas was sent to Iraq last summer and is the 27th member of the Pennsylvania National Guard killed in Iraq. He was posthumously promoted to master sergeant.

Army Master Sgt. Sean M. Thomas was killed in action on 3/27/07.

Army Sgt. Curtis J. Forshey

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. Curtis J. Forshey, 22, of Hollidaysburg, Pa.

Sgt. Forshey was assigned to the 129th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky; died March 27 in Homburg, Germany, of a noncombat related illness after being medevaced out of Kuwait on March 22.

Altoona Mirror -- Sgt. Curtis J. Forshey liked the military life and, despite the daily dangers that went with serving in Iraq, had planned on making a career of it.

Tragically, the 22-year-old Hollidaysburg resident died Tuesday in an Army hospital in Homburg, Germany, leaving behind a wife, Laura, and their 3-month-old son, Benjamin.

"He was a great guy," the 23-year-old Laura, said Thursday. "He was a great husband, a great father and a great soldier."

Curtis' mom, Sharon Forshey, said her son was serving his second tour of Iraq with the 494th Transportation Company, a part of the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky., when he got sick. Within a week of finding out he had leukemia, Curtis died from a brain aneurysm, a complication of his treatment. His death occurred shortly after his wife, son and parents arrived in Germany where he was hospitalized

"We expected to go over there, fight this and come home," Laura said. Originally, Curtis was supposed to come back to the states, but doctors decided he was too sick to travel and started treatment. The State Department made arrangements for the family to fly to Germany Sunday night.

Laura's birthday was Monday, and Curtis had asked her what she wanted as a gift, said Andy Himes, a close friend of the family. Flying to Germany to see him would turn out to be more than just a birthday wish, but by the time the family arrived, Curtis was on life support, Himes said.

Himes first met the couple when they worked -- Curtis as a Kinder Ski instructor and Laura in sales -- at Blue Knob Four Seasons Resort. Himes, the mountain manager, also happens to date Laura's mom, so he’s also seen them go from dating teenagers -- they met at the mountain -- to a loving couple just starting their own family.

"Curt was someone who you would want your own kids to be like," Himes said. "He was real good kid -- a good head on his shoulders. You don't meet a lot of kids like him."

For Curtis, the military wasn't just a last resort career or a path taken on a whim.

"He wasn't a flunky who just joined the military because he didn't know what else to do," Himes said, recalling how Curtis told him he planned to make a career out of the Army and was pursuing becoming a helicopter pilot.

Even that part of his plan was further thought out than what one would expect from most guys his age, Himes said, Curtis told him that since he would only be about 40 years old when he retired from the service, he wanted to combine his passion for skiing and his training as a pilot to work ferrying skiers to remote slopes.

Laura said she took the danger of his job in stride.

"We liked the military," she said. "It's part of the job. He came home safely once."

Facing the enemy is the duty of any soldier serving in Iraq, and Curtis had did that.

"He was there fighting," Himes said. "It was just a different kind of enemy that got him."

Army Sgt. Curtis J. Forshey died while serving in Iraq from complications for Leukemia treatments on 3/27/07.

Army Sgt. Jason W. Swiger

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. Jason W. Swiger, 24, of South Portland, Maine

Sgt. Swiger was assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died March 25 in Baqubah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. Also killed were Cpl. Jason Nunez, Pfc. Orlando E. Gonzalez and Pfc. Anthony J. White.

War claims another 'hero'
By BETH QUIMBY, Staff Writer

SOUTH PORTLAND - A 24-year-old South Portland native who was killed Sunday while serving in the Army in Iraq enjoyed poetry and was so proud of his military service that he wore his uniform back to South Portland High School to talk to students and teachers, his friends and family said Monday.

Army Sgt. Jason Swiger was the second Mainer -- and the second South Portland High graduate -- to die in Iraq this month when he and three other soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber in Diyala province, according to family members. Swiger was on his third tour in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

"He's my hero and I will love him forever," his wife, Alanna, said Monday in a prepared statement. The couple met during a poetry reading at a coffeehouse in Fayetteville, N.C., and were married last May. They moved in with his wife's parents in Fayetteville, and Swiger began his third tour in Iraq in August.

Swiger was the third Maine serviceman to die this year in Iraq. Of the roughly 3,200 U.S. troops killed since the Iraq war started in 2003, 25 are Maine natives or have ties to the state.

The Army had not officially released information about Swiger's death as of Monday night. Swiger's mother, Valorie Swiger, said she was told by her son's wife and Army officials that her son and four other soldiers had stopped their Humvee as they traveled in a convoy between two military camps, Camp Caldwell and Camp Warhorse. Swiger and a couple of the other soldiers started to hand out candy to children when a motorcyclist approached the group and blew himself up, killing Swiger and three of the others, his mother said.

Valorie Swiger said she heard about an explosion in Iraq while watching the news earlier Sunday, but it was not until her son's wife called her shortly before 6 p.m. that she learned her son was one of those killed. The Army later called her with the news, said Swiger's mother, who was active in a campaign four years ago to display yellow ribbons on South Portland streets in support of soldiers in Iraq.
"He loved what he was doing," Valorie Swiger said. "It was meaningful (to him) because it meant we could be free and his nieces and nephews would not have to be afraid."

Swiger joined the Army shortly after graduating from South Portland High in 2000. His mother said he had wanted to join the 82nd Airborne Division since he was a boy. His uncle, Carl McAfee, retired from the 82nd Airborne after 23 years of service. Jason Swiger would sit on his uncle's front porch near Fort Bragg and watch paratroopers jumping from the planes, his mother said.

Tall and thin with sandy blond hair, Swiger liked to write, draw and sing, and to work on his beloved Mitsubishi Lancer.

"When he made his sergeant's stripes, he said, 'Gram, you can't argue with me anymore,' " said his grandmother, Elizabeth Swiger.

Swiger had three sisters and two brothers. He was part of a tight-knit group of high school friends. One of those friends, Ronnie Dahle, signed up for the Army with Swiger.

"We were inseparable," Dahle said. "We went everywhere together."

Swiger's mother-in-law, Alice Regan, said burial will be in South Portland but details have yet to be worked out.

Students at South Portland High got the news of Swiger's death over the public address system early Monday afternoon. The announcement came less than two weeks after the death of a 2004 South Portland graduate, Marine Lance Cpl. Angel Rosa, 21, who was killed during combat on March 13 in Anbar province in Iraq.

Principal Jeanne Crocker led the school in a moment of silence Monday, just as she had for Rosa. "There are a thousand students and hundreds of others, and (there was) absolute silence," she said.

Swiger was a frequent visitor to the high school after he graduated, Crocker said. Sometimes he would come to reconnect with teachers. Several times, he wore his Army uniform to address students in the military history class.

"I think he probably had some kind of a calling to come back and show and model for everyone a young person making good," Crocker said. "I knew he was proud to come back and be that person."

Swiger's yearbook entry lists his nicknames as "Swag" and "The Joker," and refers to "drawing on myself, making jokes about everything and being an all-around nutcase."

An accompanying photo shows a shaggy-haired boy in a blazer and T-shirt lunging toward the camera. Crocker described Swiger as "unique" and "extremely artistic," but said he didn't seem to find his niche until he joined the Army.

"It was clear to all of us who knew Jason well at South Portland High School that he went into the military to find and define himself, and he did just that -- he found the real Jason Swiger through military service," she said.

Crocker said the school would offer grief counseling to students and plans a plaque memorializing Swiger and Rosa.

"It's very difficult to be experiencing this twice in such a short period of time, and to realize how short our time with these young people is and how sometimes their very promising futures are cut short," Crocker said.

Army Sgt. Jason W. Swiger was killed in action on 03/25/07.