Army Master Sgt. Mark W. Coleman

Remember Our Heroes

Army Master Sgt. Mark W. Coleman, 40, of Centerville, Wash.

MSgt Coleman was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; died May 2, 2010 at Khakrez, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

YAKIMA, Wash. — The Defense Department on Thursday confirmed the death of an Army master sergeant serving in Afghanistan.

Master Sgt. Mark W. Coleman, 40, of Centerville, Wash., died Sunday at Khakrez, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his unit was hit with an IED, the Pentagon said. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Coleman’s family told the Yakima Herald-Republic they were informed he was killed while leading a foot patrol in a rugged, rural area of Kandahar province. Coleman was a 22-year veteran of the military and on his third tour in Afghanistan. He joined the Army in 1988 after graduating from Goldendale High School.
His wife, Barbie, will remember him as the farm boy who flirted with her by stealing her pencils at Goldendale High School only to return them neatly sharpened

Family members and friends have gathered at the Coleman's’ home to offer support and help plan details for a public memorial May 15 in Goldendale. The family also is planning a private funeral. A memorial ceremony at Lewis-McChord has yet to be scheduled.

The high school sweethearts married Feb. 25, 1989, and spent one night together in The Dalles, Ore., before he returned to training in Fort Sill, Okla. He left for Germany the next week.

Brett Coleman was born while the couple was stationed in Germany, Jessica while they were back in the United States at Fort Sill.

The family spent two years in Perth, Australia, when Coleman was in a foreign exchange program.

One of Coleman’s most exciting moments came this past year when he jumped from a plane with his son who was going through airborne training in Alaska.

“He did everything he possibly could in the military,” she said.

She described her husband as a good but strict father who sometimes regretted missing so much of his children’s lives because of work assignments.

He was eligible for full retirement in 2008 but re-enlisted for five more years. He and Barbie had been discussing another five, putting him on track for a 30-year career.

“He had just commented that his daughter was turning 16 and he missed so much of her life,” Barbie said.

Family members said Wednesday he died leading a patrol team on foot in a rugged, rural area of Kandahar Province.

"It blew him up before he even knew what hit him," said his sister-in-law, Pam Jussila.

This was Master Sgt. Coleman's fifth deployment in support of an overseas contingency operation, according to a release from U.S. Army Special Forces Command.

Master Sgt. Coleman grew up near Goldendale, Klickitat County, and his parents, Alice Eshelman and Jim Coleman, and other family members still live there.

"There's so many people that loved him," Barbie Coleman said in a phone call from their home in Yelm, Thurston County.

Master Sgt. Coleman deployed in December and was scheduled to be there until August. It was his third tour in Afghanistan.

For the past two years, the couple lived in Yelm with their two children, Jessica, 15, and Brett, 20, who also is in the Army, stationed at Fort Richardson in Alaska.

Family members and friends plan a public memorial May 15 in Goldendale. The family is also planning a private funeral.

"He was a local boy, and everybody knew him at one point," Jussila said.

The Army ran through Master Sgt. Coleman's veins, his wife said. "He loved his job and he believed in what he was doing."

As a child growing up on a farm in Centerville, Master Sgt. Coleman wanted to join the special forces. He left for basic training immediately after graduation from Goldendale High School in 1988.

The high school sweethearts married Feb. 25, 1989, and spent one night together in The Dalles, Ore., before he returned to training in Fort Sill, Okla. He left for Germany the next week.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Gov. Chris Gregoire has directed that state flags fly at half staff Tuesday for a Washington soldier who was killed Sunday in Afghanistan.

The Defense Department says 40-year-old Master Sgt. Mark W. Coleman was killed by an improvised bomb. He was a member of the 1st Special Forces Group at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Coleman grew up on a farm near Centerville in Klickitat County and leaves parents who live at Goldendale.

Master Sgt. Coleman also had been stationed in South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, Fort Bragg, N.C., and most recently, Fort Lewis.

He joined the Army's special forces in 1999, training at Fort Bragg, where he learned to speak Thai, his wife said.

The family spent two years in Perth, Australia, when Master Sgt. Coleman was in a foreign-exchange program.

He was eligible for full retirement in 2008 but re-enlisted for five more years. The couple had been discussing another five, putting him on track for a 30-year career.

Master Sgt. Coleman's awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, and many others. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.

Army Master Sgt. Mark W. Coleman was killed in action on 5/2/10.