Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.
Sgt. Bueno-Galdos was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany; died May 11, 2009 from injuries sustained in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq. Also killed were Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle and Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr.
Family stunned at son’s tragic loss
By Samantha Henry
The Associated Press
PATERSON, N.J. — On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a tabletop shrine to her recently deceased mother — surrounding her photograph with silk roses, a small white rosary cross, two votive candles and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros, the patron saint of Peru.
The next day, May 11, she added her son’s picture to the shrine for the dead.
Sgt. Christian Bueno-Gardos, 25, was killed at an Iraq clinic Monday, among five soldiers allegedly gunned down by a distraught comrade.
Eugenia Gardos sat in her living room in Paterson on May 13, surrounded by weeping family members as she struggled to make sense of the fact that her youngest child would not be coming home.
“The first time he left for Iraq, when they would read the lists of the dead on the news, we used to hold our breath, praying he wasn’t on it,” she said in Spanish. “I don’t understand how he could have died this way. I just don’t understand it.”
Bueno was on his second tour in Iraq. He had joined the Army out of high school and was most recently based in Germany. He was married with no children.
He had emigrated with his family from Mollendo, Peru, as a child and had been a U.S. citizen since high school. His mother, two older brothers and older sister recalled how he used to hand out candy to children in Iraq the same way he always did in Paterson — never making a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing behind, knowing he would buy them candy or a soda.
Paterson is one of the largest Peruvian immigrant communities in the United States, estimated at about 42,000 Peruvians, and has its own Peruvian consulate in a city of about 145,000 people.
Bueno’s father, Carlos Bueno, said the family arrived 20 years ago at the height of the Peruvian migration to Paterson, drawn by plentiful work in factories like the one he has worked in for decades, making wire hangers.
Bueno said the news of his son’s death has hit the family hard, both here and in Peru.
About 10:30 p.m. May 11, Army officials showed up at the door of the place Christian shared with his wife a few blocks away.
“We were all here at home,” Carlos Bueno said. “I was getting ready to go to bed when I heard screaming downstairs. I ran downstairs and everyone had thrown themselves to the floor, thrashing around, screaming.”
Bueno said he does not feel bitterness toward the man accused in the shootings, whom he described as “mentally ill.”
“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” he said. “But not to die in this manner.”
His wife, Eugenia Gardos, began weeping at his side.
“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “I’m only waiting for him to come home. I see my son as a hero. If he hadn’t died in Iraq, he would have gone very far.”
Christian Bueno’s body was scheduled to be flown back to the United States on May 13.
Liberty shooting victims united by circumstance
By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press
The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.
Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.
Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.
Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.
The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.
Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.
The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.
Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.
“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”
Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”
Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.
“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”
Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.
“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.
Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.
“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”
Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of saltwater Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”
All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.
“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”
Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.
In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.
“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”
Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.
The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.
Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.
He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.
Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.
On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.
“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”
Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.
His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”
Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.
“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”
So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.
Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”
Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”
Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.
When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”
“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”
Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.
“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.
Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.
“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.
Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.
As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.
“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”
———
Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; Samantha Henry in Paterson, N.J.; Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C.; Brian Witte in Seaford, Del.; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Linda Franklin and Regina L. Burns in Dallas.
Flags to fly at half-staff for fallen soldier
The Associated Press
PATERSON, N.J. — Memorial Day will have a deeper meaning for the family of a New Jersey soldier killed in Iraq.
A wake will be held for Army Sgt. Christian Bueno-Galdos at the Scillieri Funeral Home in Paterson on Friday evening.
Officials say the 25-year-old was among five soldiers gunned down by a distraught comrade at a stress clinic on May 11.
Gov. Jon Corzine has ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Friday in Bueno-Galdos’ honor.
A Mass will be celebrated Saturday at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, followed by burial with full military honors in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa.
Bueno-Galdos was born in Peru, but immigrated with his family to Paterson as a 7-year-old. He joined the Army out of high school.
Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos was killed in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 5/11/09.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr.
Remember Our Heroes
Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md.
Pfc. Yates was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany; died May 11, 2009 from injuries sustained in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq. Also killed were Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal and Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle.
Liberty shooting victims united by circumstance
By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press
The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.
Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.
Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.
Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.
The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.
Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.
The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.
Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.
“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”
Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”
Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.
“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”
Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.
“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.
Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.
“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”
Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of saltwater Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”
All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.
“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”
Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.
In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.
“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”
Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.
The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.
Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.
He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.
Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.
On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.
“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”
Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.
His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”
Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.
“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”
So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.
Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”
Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”
Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.
When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”
“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”
Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.
“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.
Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.
“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.
Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.
As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.
“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”
———
Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; Samantha Henry in Paterson, N.J.; Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C.; Brian Witte in Seaford, Del.; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Linda Franklin and Regina L. Burns in Dallas.
Mourners pay tribute to Md. soldier killed in Iraq
By Brian Witte
The Associated Press
FEDERALSBURG, Md. — A 19-year-old Maryland soldier who was one of five killed in Iraq by an Army sergeant at a mental health clinic was remembered Thursday as a strongly loyal family member who excelled at making people laugh and enjoyed hunting and fishing.
Michael Yates Jr.’s love of the outdoors was underscored during the solemn ceremony as a long funeral procession went by vast farm fields on the mostly rural Eastern Shore. It also passed by one of Yates’ favorite fishing spots, where anglers were taking advantage of sunny skies to cast lures.
Residents of Federalsburg, where Yates lived, watched the funeral procession from their homes. Along the route, many businesses expressed condolences on signs. Residents waved flags, held their hands over their hearts and watched respectfully as the procession headed toward the Maryland Veterans Cemetery Eastern Shore, where a sign reads: “The price of freedom is visible here.”
Friends and family grieved during a short ceremony surrounded by graves adorned with small flags.
Yates’ father, Michael Yates Sr., said love for his son and anger at the continuing war were his chief emotions of the day.
“They need to bring them boys home ... it should have been over,” Yates, of Glen Burnie said at the cemetery.
Earlier, mourners filled the Framptom Funeral Home in Federalsburg. The Army awarded Yates a Bronze Star and promoted him from private first class to the rank of specialist.
Yates was serving as a cavalry scout and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade. He was one of five soldiers shot to death May 11 at a mental health clinic on a Baghdad base. Sgt. John Russell has been charged with the slayings.
U.S. Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-Md., introduced a resolution on Thursday “expressing sympathy to the victims, families, and friends of the tragic act of violence at the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty.”
“The Eastern Shore lost a native son this month in a senseless act of violence that reminds us all just how horrible war can be,” Kratovil said in a statement.
Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr. was killed in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 5/11/09.
Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md.
Pfc. Yates was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany; died May 11, 2009 from injuries sustained in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq. Also killed were Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal and Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle.
Liberty shooting victims united by circumstance
By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press
The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.
Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.
Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.
Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.
The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.
Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.
The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.
Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.
“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”
Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”
Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.
“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”
Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.
“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.
Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.
“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”
Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of saltwater Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”
All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.
“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”
Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.
In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.
“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”
Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.
The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.
Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.
He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.
Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.
On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.
“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”
Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.
His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”
Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.
“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”
So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.
Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”
Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”
Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.
When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”
“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”
Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.
“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.
Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.
“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.
Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.
As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.
“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”
———
Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; Samantha Henry in Paterson, N.J.; Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C.; Brian Witte in Seaford, Del.; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Linda Franklin and Regina L. Burns in Dallas.
Mourners pay tribute to Md. soldier killed in Iraq
By Brian Witte
The Associated Press
FEDERALSBURG, Md. — A 19-year-old Maryland soldier who was one of five killed in Iraq by an Army sergeant at a mental health clinic was remembered Thursday as a strongly loyal family member who excelled at making people laugh and enjoyed hunting and fishing.
Michael Yates Jr.’s love of the outdoors was underscored during the solemn ceremony as a long funeral procession went by vast farm fields on the mostly rural Eastern Shore. It also passed by one of Yates’ favorite fishing spots, where anglers were taking advantage of sunny skies to cast lures.
Residents of Federalsburg, where Yates lived, watched the funeral procession from their homes. Along the route, many businesses expressed condolences on signs. Residents waved flags, held their hands over their hearts and watched respectfully as the procession headed toward the Maryland Veterans Cemetery Eastern Shore, where a sign reads: “The price of freedom is visible here.”
Friends and family grieved during a short ceremony surrounded by graves adorned with small flags.
Yates’ father, Michael Yates Sr., said love for his son and anger at the continuing war were his chief emotions of the day.
“They need to bring them boys home ... it should have been over,” Yates, of Glen Burnie said at the cemetery.
Earlier, mourners filled the Framptom Funeral Home in Federalsburg. The Army awarded Yates a Bronze Star and promoted him from private first class to the rank of specialist.
Yates was serving as a cavalry scout and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade. He was one of five soldiers shot to death May 11 at a mental health clinic on a Baghdad base. Sgt. John Russell has been charged with the slayings.
U.S. Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-Md., introduced a resolution on Thursday “expressing sympathy to the victims, families, and friends of the tragic act of violence at the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty.”
“The Eastern Shore lost a native son this month in a senseless act of violence that reminds us all just how horrible war can be,” Kratovil said in a statement.
Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr. was killed in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 5/11/09.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Army Maj. Steven Hutchison
Remember Our Heroes
Army Maj. Steven Hutchison, 60, of Scottsdale, Ariz.
Maj. Hutchison was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died May 10, 2009 in Basra, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Al Farr, Iraq.
Riley major, 60, is oldest soldier to die in Iraq
By Amanda Lee Myers
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — A 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has become the oldest Army soldier to die in that conflict, the military said Thursday.
Maj. Steven Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., served in Vietnam and wanted to re-enlist immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks, but his wife was against it, his brother said.
Richard Hutchison told The Associated Press on Thursday that when she died, “a part of him died” so he signed up in July 2007 at age 59.
“He was very devoted to the service and to his country,” Richard Hutchison said.
He described him as a great big brother and friend. “I didn’t want him to go,” he said through tears, adding that he loved his brother “so much.”
The Pentagon said Steven Hutchison was killed in Iraq on Sunday. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks said Thursday that Hutchison was the oldest Army soldier killed in Iraq.
An Associated Press database of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that Hutchison is the oldest member of any service branch killed since the wars broke out.
Hutchison served in Afghanistan for a year before deploying to Iraq in October, heading a 12-soldier team that trained the Iraqi military, his brother said. Later, he was assigned to help secure Iraq’s southern border.
Hutchinson, who grew up in California, taught psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on and off between 1988 and 1996, and lectured and taught at two other colleges, according to school records. He then worked at a health care corporation in Arizona before retiring and re-entering the service, his brother said.
Army Maj. Steven Hutchison was killed in action on 5/10/09.
Army Maj. Steven Hutchison, 60, of Scottsdale, Ariz.
Maj. Hutchison was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died May 10, 2009 in Basra, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Al Farr, Iraq.
Riley major, 60, is oldest soldier to die in Iraq
By Amanda Lee Myers
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — A 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has become the oldest Army soldier to die in that conflict, the military said Thursday.
Maj. Steven Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., served in Vietnam and wanted to re-enlist immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks, but his wife was against it, his brother said.
Richard Hutchison told The Associated Press on Thursday that when she died, “a part of him died” so he signed up in July 2007 at age 59.
“He was very devoted to the service and to his country,” Richard Hutchison said.
He described him as a great big brother and friend. “I didn’t want him to go,” he said through tears, adding that he loved his brother “so much.”
The Pentagon said Steven Hutchison was killed in Iraq on Sunday. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks said Thursday that Hutchison was the oldest Army soldier killed in Iraq.
An Associated Press database of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that Hutchison is the oldest member of any service branch killed since the wars broke out.
Hutchison served in Afghanistan for a year before deploying to Iraq in October, heading a 12-soldier team that trained the Iraqi military, his brother said. Later, he was assigned to help secure Iraq’s southern border.
Hutchinson, who grew up in California, taught psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on and off between 1988 and 1996, and lectured and taught at two other colleges, according to school records. He then worked at a health care corporation in Arizona before retiring and re-entering the service, his brother said.
Army Maj. Steven Hutchison was killed in action on 5/10/09.
Army Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek
Remember Our Heroes
Army Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek, 23, of Lake in the Hills, Ill.
Spc. Saczek was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment, Illinois Army National Guard, Woodstock, Ill.; died May 10, 2009 in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a noncombat-related incident.
Northwest Herald -- A Lake in the Hills soldier serving in Afghanistan died Sunday, the U.S. military reported Monday. Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek, 23, was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry based in Woodstock.
He died as a result of a non-combat-related injury that remains under investigation, said Maj. Brad Leighton, public affairs director of the Illinois National Guard. Saczek had a 6-week-old child and was married to Kathryn Saczek, Leighton said.
He also is survived by his mother and father, Ewa and Dariusz Saczek. Saczek graduated from Steinmetz Academic Centre in Chicago in 2005 and enlisted in the Illinois Army National Guard in July 2006.
It was his first deployment, and he served in Operation Enduring Freedom. He was one of 55 soldiers who left Woodstock on Aug. 24 for two months of training before a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan.
He died in the Nangarhar province, Leighton said. "As we continue through this difficult deployment, each and every soldier is a vital family member to this National Guard force," said Maj. Gen. William Enyart, adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard.
"Spc. Saczek, like all our soldiers, made the decision to volunteer to serve his country in a time of war and will be remembered."
The soldiers from Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry comprise one of about 30 units with the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The unit provides security for reconstruction teams that help the Afghan government build roads, hospitals, government buildings and other infrastructure.
Army Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek was killed in a non-combat related incident on 5/10/09.
Army Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek, 23, of Lake in the Hills, Ill.
Spc. Saczek was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment, Illinois Army National Guard, Woodstock, Ill.; died May 10, 2009 in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a noncombat-related incident.
Northwest Herald -- A Lake in the Hills soldier serving in Afghanistan died Sunday, the U.S. military reported Monday. Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek, 23, was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry based in Woodstock.
He died as a result of a non-combat-related injury that remains under investigation, said Maj. Brad Leighton, public affairs director of the Illinois National Guard. Saczek had a 6-week-old child and was married to Kathryn Saczek, Leighton said.
He also is survived by his mother and father, Ewa and Dariusz Saczek. Saczek graduated from Steinmetz Academic Centre in Chicago in 2005 and enlisted in the Illinois Army National Guard in July 2006.
It was his first deployment, and he served in Operation Enduring Freedom. He was one of 55 soldiers who left Woodstock on Aug. 24 for two months of training before a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan.
He died in the Nangarhar province, Leighton said. "As we continue through this difficult deployment, each and every soldier is a vital family member to this National Guard force," said Maj. Gen. William Enyart, adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard.
"Spc. Saczek, like all our soldiers, made the decision to volunteer to serve his country in a time of war and will be remembered."
The soldiers from Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry comprise one of about 30 units with the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The unit provides security for reconstruction teams that help the Afghan government build roads, hospitals, government buildings and other infrastructure.
Army Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek was killed in a non-combat related incident on 5/10/09.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak
Remember Our Heroes
Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak, 21, of Chicago
Spc. Albrak was an Individual Ready Reserve soldier assigned to the Headquarters, Multi-National Forces Iraq; died May 9, 2009 in Baghdad of injuries sustained during a motor vehicle accident.
Family meets soldier’s remains at Dover
The Associated Press
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Twenty-one years after Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak’s birth, his mother, aunt and uncle traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday to meet a flag-draped transfer case containing his body.
Albrak’s mother, Susan Atooli of Escondido, Calif., said she attended the ceremony Tuesday to be close to her son.
“It was a lot harder than I thought just to see somebody come back,” Atooli said. “You think you can handle it, but it hits you a lot harder than you think.
She was sorry that she was not able to see her son’s body during the trip to Dover, but officials told her his body would be released within 72 hours.
Atooli said she last talked to her son on Friday about a credit card problem.
“We were at Disneyland, and he didn’t want to keep us,” she said. “He said he’d call tomorrow, and that didn’t happen.”
Instead, she was met at her home Saturday by an officer who told her of her son’s death.
Atooli said military officials told her that Albrak was killed earlier that day in a crash at Camp Victory in Iraq and an investigation will take about six months. A spokeswoman at the Dover base said Tuesday that details of Albrak’s death had not be released, pending notification of some of his next of kin.
Albrak’s father, Omar Albrak, lives in New York.
Albrak, who is of Yemeni ancestry, worked as a translator, she said. Some Iraqis gave him a tough time because he was of Middle Eastern descent and fighting for the United States, she said. But Atooli said he but didn’t want to be an enemy to anyone despite his Yemeni ancestry.
Atooli’s sister Helen, of Maui, Hawaii, brought a sign wishing Albrak a happy birthday. She said she wanted to show it to the media covering the ceremony.
“We wanted people to know that he came home in a casket on his birthday,” Susan Atooli said.
For 18 years, media was not allowed to cover the return of overseas casualties to Dover Air Force Base. The mortuary there is the entry point for service personnel killed overseas.
Some critics saw the ban, imposed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, as an attempt to hide the human cost of war, but officials cast it as a way to protect grieving families’ privacy.
Since the ban was lifted last month, many families, like Albrak’s, have agreed to media coverage of their loved ones’ returns.
The remains of Spc. Lukasz Saczek of Lake in the Hills, Ill., who died in Afghanistan on Sunday, arrived during the same Tuesday morning ceremony as Albrak’s.
Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak was killed in a motor vehicle accident on 5/9/09.
Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak, 21, of Chicago
Spc. Albrak was an Individual Ready Reserve soldier assigned to the Headquarters, Multi-National Forces Iraq; died May 9, 2009 in Baghdad of injuries sustained during a motor vehicle accident.
Family meets soldier’s remains at Dover
The Associated Press
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Twenty-one years after Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak’s birth, his mother, aunt and uncle traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday to meet a flag-draped transfer case containing his body.
Albrak’s mother, Susan Atooli of Escondido, Calif., said she attended the ceremony Tuesday to be close to her son.
“It was a lot harder than I thought just to see somebody come back,” Atooli said. “You think you can handle it, but it hits you a lot harder than you think.
She was sorry that she was not able to see her son’s body during the trip to Dover, but officials told her his body would be released within 72 hours.
Atooli said she last talked to her son on Friday about a credit card problem.
“We were at Disneyland, and he didn’t want to keep us,” she said. “He said he’d call tomorrow, and that didn’t happen.”
Instead, she was met at her home Saturday by an officer who told her of her son’s death.
Atooli said military officials told her that Albrak was killed earlier that day in a crash at Camp Victory in Iraq and an investigation will take about six months. A spokeswoman at the Dover base said Tuesday that details of Albrak’s death had not be released, pending notification of some of his next of kin.
Albrak’s father, Omar Albrak, lives in New York.
Albrak, who is of Yemeni ancestry, worked as a translator, she said. Some Iraqis gave him a tough time because he was of Middle Eastern descent and fighting for the United States, she said. But Atooli said he but didn’t want to be an enemy to anyone despite his Yemeni ancestry.
Atooli’s sister Helen, of Maui, Hawaii, brought a sign wishing Albrak a happy birthday. She said she wanted to show it to the media covering the ceremony.
“We wanted people to know that he came home in a casket on his birthday,” Susan Atooli said.
For 18 years, media was not allowed to cover the return of overseas casualties to Dover Air Force Base. The mortuary there is the entry point for service personnel killed overseas.
Some critics saw the ban, imposed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, as an attempt to hide the human cost of war, but officials cast it as a way to protect grieving families’ privacy.
Since the ban was lifted last month, many families, like Albrak’s, have agreed to media coverage of their loved ones’ returns.
The remains of Spc. Lukasz Saczek of Lake in the Hills, Ill., who died in Afghanistan on Sunday, arrived during the same Tuesday morning ceremony as Albrak’s.
Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak was killed in a motor vehicle accident on 5/9/09.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Army Pvt. Justin P. Hartford
Remember Our Heroes
Army Pvt. Justin P. Hartford, 21, of Elmira, N.Y.
Pvt. Hartford was assigned to the 699th Maintenance Company, Corps Support Battalion, 916th Support Brigade, Fort Irwin, Calif.; died May 8, 2009 at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a noncombat-related incident.
Soldier inspired family members, loved being in the Army
By Salle E. Richards
Binghamton) Press & Sun-Bullein
The hurt to Justin P. Hartford’s family was evident in their voices and on their faces Tuesday afternoon as his mother, Alice Hartford, talked to news media about her son and his unexpected death in Iraq.
“This is for him,” she said of her reason for talking to media at such a painful personal time. “Our Justin is worth remembering.”
Pvt. Hartford, of Elmira, died Friday at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. His death is under investigation, according to the Army.
The family memories of the soldier were of a young man full of life and looking for adventure.
Inspired by an older brother who served in the Marine Corps, he first thought the Army Reserve would satisfy his desire for new experiences.
“But it was too boring,” his mother said. “He just got to play on weekends. You don’t get much action if you only play on weekends.”
Justin itched for the real thing, his mother said. He requested to be transferred to active duty.
“He’d played video games his whole life. Why play video games when you can do the real thing and actually make a difference?” she said. “That’s all he wanted to do, make a difference. He might of been a jokester, but he helped whenever and however he could.”
His path from high school cut-up to soldier wasn’t an easy one, his mother said.
“You don’t go to the STARS program for nothing. He went twice,” she said of an alternative program for young offenders.
“It helps kids who make bad choices and do stupid things,” she said. “Later on they regret it, but by then, they have their butts in so much trouble there’s no way up without help.”
STARS gave Justin that help, Alice Hartford said.
The last time she talked to him he was full of ideas and plans for the future.
“He was a good kid from the get-go,” she said. “He wanted to go every place and do everything. He loved life to the fullest and never ever meant to leave us.”
His younger sister, Chelsey Hartford, 17, had mixed feelings about his decision to go regular Army. She thought he was safer in the reserves.
“But it was cool. I was proud of him,” she said.
“He actually got through it ...,” Chelsey said and then paused thoughtfully. “I guess we can’t say that anymore.”
Alice Hartford said that after the death of husband, Paul Hartford, six months ago, Justin tried even harder to look out for his sisters.
“He gave me the ‘Big Brother speech,’” said Bill VonRapacki, a friend of Chelsey.
Chelsey said she was very close to her brother.
“I was his little amigo,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “He called me Baby Sis.”
Chelsey said Justin promised to help her with her plans to go to Ireland next summer.
“He said ‘Don’t worry, Baby Sis, I gotcha. No matter what,’” Chelsey said.
Her memories of her brother swirl between having fun and remembering him working on trucks with their father.
“He got on the ground and got greasy,” she said.
Alice Hartford said she supported the decision of both her sons to go into the military and still does. But she now has a different perspective.
“Now I know what other mothers and fathers go through while they’re waiting for their casket to come home. War is Hell. I want them all back home,” she said. “I’ve lost my son. Now I want to protest everything. But I will do the right thing because my son would expect that of me.
“I’m not crying over that,” she said quietly. “I’m crying over that I can’t enjoy any more years with him.”
Alice Hartford said she isn’t against the military. But she is also anxious to learn the circumstances of her son’s death.
“I just need to know,” she said. “But I understand it takes time.”
In the meantime, all she can do is remember and cherish what has been lost.
“Nobody could tell a story better than our Justin. If you met him once, you would never forget him,” she said and allowed a little smile as she fingered a metal around her neck. Justin Hartford had received it for saving another soldier’s life during training. “This means a lot to me.”
“But I’d rather have him.”
Army Pvt. Justin P. Hartford was killed in a non-combat related incident on 5/8/09.
Army Pvt. Justin P. Hartford, 21, of Elmira, N.Y.
Pvt. Hartford was assigned to the 699th Maintenance Company, Corps Support Battalion, 916th Support Brigade, Fort Irwin, Calif.; died May 8, 2009 at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a noncombat-related incident.
Soldier inspired family members, loved being in the Army
By Salle E. Richards
Binghamton) Press & Sun-Bullein
The hurt to Justin P. Hartford’s family was evident in their voices and on their faces Tuesday afternoon as his mother, Alice Hartford, talked to news media about her son and his unexpected death in Iraq.
“This is for him,” she said of her reason for talking to media at such a painful personal time. “Our Justin is worth remembering.”
Pvt. Hartford, of Elmira, died Friday at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. His death is under investigation, according to the Army.
The family memories of the soldier were of a young man full of life and looking for adventure.
Inspired by an older brother who served in the Marine Corps, he first thought the Army Reserve would satisfy his desire for new experiences.
“But it was too boring,” his mother said. “He just got to play on weekends. You don’t get much action if you only play on weekends.”
Justin itched for the real thing, his mother said. He requested to be transferred to active duty.
“He’d played video games his whole life. Why play video games when you can do the real thing and actually make a difference?” she said. “That’s all he wanted to do, make a difference. He might of been a jokester, but he helped whenever and however he could.”
His path from high school cut-up to soldier wasn’t an easy one, his mother said.
“You don’t go to the STARS program for nothing. He went twice,” she said of an alternative program for young offenders.
“It helps kids who make bad choices and do stupid things,” she said. “Later on they regret it, but by then, they have their butts in so much trouble there’s no way up without help.”
STARS gave Justin that help, Alice Hartford said.
The last time she talked to him he was full of ideas and plans for the future.
“He was a good kid from the get-go,” she said. “He wanted to go every place and do everything. He loved life to the fullest and never ever meant to leave us.”
His younger sister, Chelsey Hartford, 17, had mixed feelings about his decision to go regular Army. She thought he was safer in the reserves.
“But it was cool. I was proud of him,” she said.
“He actually got through it ...,” Chelsey said and then paused thoughtfully. “I guess we can’t say that anymore.”
Alice Hartford said that after the death of husband, Paul Hartford, six months ago, Justin tried even harder to look out for his sisters.
“He gave me the ‘Big Brother speech,’” said Bill VonRapacki, a friend of Chelsey.
Chelsey said she was very close to her brother.
“I was his little amigo,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “He called me Baby Sis.”
Chelsey said Justin promised to help her with her plans to go to Ireland next summer.
“He said ‘Don’t worry, Baby Sis, I gotcha. No matter what,’” Chelsey said.
Her memories of her brother swirl between having fun and remembering him working on trucks with their father.
“He got on the ground and got greasy,” she said.
Alice Hartford said she supported the decision of both her sons to go into the military and still does. But she now has a different perspective.
“Now I know what other mothers and fathers go through while they’re waiting for their casket to come home. War is Hell. I want them all back home,” she said. “I’ve lost my son. Now I want to protest everything. But I will do the right thing because my son would expect that of me.
“I’m not crying over that,” she said quietly. “I’m crying over that I can’t enjoy any more years with him.”
Alice Hartford said she isn’t against the military. But she is also anxious to learn the circumstances of her son’s death.
“I just need to know,” she said. “But I understand it takes time.”
In the meantime, all she can do is remember and cherish what has been lost.
“Nobody could tell a story better than our Justin. If you met him once, you would never forget him,” she said and allowed a little smile as she fingered a metal around her neck. Justin Hartford had received it for saving another soldier’s life during training. “This means a lot to me.”
“But I’d rather have him.”
Army Pvt. Justin P. Hartford was killed in a non-combat related incident on 5/8/09.
Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno
Remember Our Heroes
Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno, 29, of Pearl City, Hawaii
SSgt. Agno was assigned to the 325th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; died May 8, 2009 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington of wounds sustained April 27 from a noncombat-related incident at Forward Operating Base Olsen, Samarra, Iraq.
Schofield soldier, hurt in Iraq, dies
By William Cole
Honolulu Advertiser
A Schofield Barracks soldier from Pearl City died Friday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington of a noncombat injury in Iraq, the Pentagon said yesterday.
Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno, 29, died from wounds received April 27 at Forward Operating Base Olsen in Samarra, Iraq, the Pentagon said.
Agno was assigned to the 325th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation, the military said. It was the 3rd Brigade’s fourth noncombat death, and seventh overall, since the unit was deployed last fall.
Agno, a 1997 graduate of Pearl City High School, joined the Army in 1998 and was assigned to Hawaii in 2001.
He was a food service specialist. In 2006, Agno was named Junior Army Chef of the Year at the Army’s 31st Annual Culinary Arts Competition.
Agno earned numerous awards during his career, including the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with Arrowhead, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
Schofield’s 3rd Brigade, with 3,500 soldiers, has experienced a spate of noncombat deaths in Iraq since it deployed in October and November on a 12-month tour.
There have been four noncombat deaths compared to three deaths related to combat.
Noncombat deaths can be due to natural causes, a vehicle or other accident, friendly fire, homicide or suicide. Eight out of 11 deaths in a combat zone this year involving troops with Hawaii ties have been as a result of noncombat causes, which largely go unexplained.
A Schofield Barracks soldier was charged last month with involuntary man-slaughter in one of those deaths — the January shooting of a fellow Hawaii soldier in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.
The death of Pfc. Sean P. McCune was the result of a “negligent discharge” of Sgt. Miguel A. Vegaquinones’ weapon, the military said.
McCune, 20, of Euless, Texas, died after allegedly being shot by Vegaquinones following the completion of their guard-shift duty in Samarra on Jan. 11, according to a Multi-National Corps-Iraq news release
Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno died from non-combat related injuries on 5/8/09.
Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno, 29, of Pearl City, Hawaii
SSgt. Agno was assigned to the 325th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; died May 8, 2009 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington of wounds sustained April 27 from a noncombat-related incident at Forward Operating Base Olsen, Samarra, Iraq.
Schofield soldier, hurt in Iraq, dies
By William Cole
Honolulu Advertiser
A Schofield Barracks soldier from Pearl City died Friday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington of a noncombat injury in Iraq, the Pentagon said yesterday.
Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno, 29, died from wounds received April 27 at Forward Operating Base Olsen in Samarra, Iraq, the Pentagon said.
Agno was assigned to the 325th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation, the military said. It was the 3rd Brigade’s fourth noncombat death, and seventh overall, since the unit was deployed last fall.
Agno, a 1997 graduate of Pearl City High School, joined the Army in 1998 and was assigned to Hawaii in 2001.
He was a food service specialist. In 2006, Agno was named Junior Army Chef of the Year at the Army’s 31st Annual Culinary Arts Competition.
Agno earned numerous awards during his career, including the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with Arrowhead, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
Schofield’s 3rd Brigade, with 3,500 soldiers, has experienced a spate of noncombat deaths in Iraq since it deployed in October and November on a 12-month tour.
There have been four noncombat deaths compared to three deaths related to combat.
Noncombat deaths can be due to natural causes, a vehicle or other accident, friendly fire, homicide or suicide. Eight out of 11 deaths in a combat zone this year involving troops with Hawaii ties have been as a result of noncombat causes, which largely go unexplained.
A Schofield Barracks soldier was charged last month with involuntary man-slaughter in one of those deaths — the January shooting of a fellow Hawaii soldier in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.
The death of Pfc. Sean P. McCune was the result of a “negligent discharge” of Sgt. Miguel A. Vegaquinones’ weapon, the military said.
McCune, 20, of Euless, Texas, died after allegedly being shot by Vegaquinones following the completion of their guard-shift duty in Samarra on Jan. 11, according to a Multi-National Corps-Iraq news release
Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno died from non-combat related injuries on 5/8/09.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Army Spc. Shawn D. Sykes
Remember Our Heroes
Army Spc. Shawn D. Sykes, 28, of Portsmouth, Va.
Spc. Sykes was assigned to 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 7, 2009 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained from an accident that occurred May 5 at Combat Outpost Crazy Horse, Iraq.
The Virginian-Pilot -- A soldier from Portsmouth who died after an accident in Iraq returned to U.S. soil Friday.
Spc. Shawn Dante Sykes, a 28-year-old who was assigned to the 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was injured Tuesday in an accident at Combat Outpost Crazy Horse in Iraq. He was sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he died Thursday.
Sykes' remains were returned to Dover Air Force Base on Friday, authorities said.
He was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. He joined the military in August 2001 as a food services specialist.
Sykes deployed to Iraq in December.
His decorations and awards include the Navy Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon and Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, according to a news release from Fort Hood.
Marion Cotton, his mother, returned from Delaware late Friday night and told WVEC-TV that the news of her son's death tore her up.
“I cried almost the whole ride there,” she said in the interview. “That’s my only son, my first born.”
She said that she spoke with her son, the oldest of five children, while he was in the hospital in Germany.
Cotton told WVEC-TV, a propane tank exploded in her son’s face while he was on the job as a food services specialist, cooking as he had since he joined the military. Sykes was in the Marine Corps before becoming a soldier.
Sykes graduated from Churchland High School.
Army Spc. Shawn D. Sykes died as a result of a non-combat related accident on 5/7/09.
Army Spc. Shawn D. Sykes, 28, of Portsmouth, Va.
Spc. Sykes was assigned to 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 7, 2009 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained from an accident that occurred May 5 at Combat Outpost Crazy Horse, Iraq.
The Virginian-Pilot -- A soldier from Portsmouth who died after an accident in Iraq returned to U.S. soil Friday.
Spc. Shawn Dante Sykes, a 28-year-old who was assigned to the 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was injured Tuesday in an accident at Combat Outpost Crazy Horse in Iraq. He was sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he died Thursday.
Sykes' remains were returned to Dover Air Force Base on Friday, authorities said.
He was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. He joined the military in August 2001 as a food services specialist.
Sykes deployed to Iraq in December.
His decorations and awards include the Navy Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon and Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, according to a news release from Fort Hood.
Marion Cotton, his mother, returned from Delaware late Friday night and told WVEC-TV that the news of her son's death tore her up.
“I cried almost the whole ride there,” she said in the interview. “That’s my only son, my first born.”
She said that she spoke with her son, the oldest of five children, while he was in the hospital in Germany.
Cotton told WVEC-TV, a propane tank exploded in her son’s face while he was on the job as a food services specialist, cooking as he had since he joined the military. Sykes was in the Marine Corps before becoming a soldier.
Sykes graduated from Churchland High School.
Army Spc. Shawn D. Sykes died as a result of a non-combat related accident on 5/7/09.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery
Remember Our Heroes
Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery, 24, of Portola, Calif.
Spc. McCleery was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 2, 2009 on Mosul, Iraq, after being shot by enemy forces. Also killed was Spc. Jake R. Velloza.
Plumas County News -- May 11, 2009: Services for slain Portola serviceman Jeremiah McCleery will be held this Saturday, May 16, at noon at the Elks Lodge in Portola.
A viewing is scheduled Friday, May 15, at Manni's Funeral Home in Portola from 2-7 p.m. McCleery will be laid to rest next to his mother, Colette, in Portola.
Tributes to McCleery can be left at myspace.com/rememberpfcmccleery.
The Department of Defense announced the death May 5, of Specialist McCleery, 24, from wounds sustained after he was shot May 2, by enemy forces in Mosul, Iraq.
He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
McCleery attended Portola High School and was on the wrestling team in 2003, graduating in 2004.
He is survived by his father, Joe, and sisters Chastity Sobrero and Lynette Flanagan; his mother, Colette, passed away in July 2005.
Memorial myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/rememberpfcmccleery
Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery was killed in action on 5/2/09.
Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery, 24, of Portola, Calif.
Spc. McCleery was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 2, 2009 on Mosul, Iraq, after being shot by enemy forces. Also killed was Spc. Jake R. Velloza.
Plumas County News -- May 11, 2009: Services for slain Portola serviceman Jeremiah McCleery will be held this Saturday, May 16, at noon at the Elks Lodge in Portola.
A viewing is scheduled Friday, May 15, at Manni's Funeral Home in Portola from 2-7 p.m. McCleery will be laid to rest next to his mother, Colette, in Portola.
Tributes to McCleery can be left at myspace.com/rememberpfcmccleery.
The Department of Defense announced the death May 5, of Specialist McCleery, 24, from wounds sustained after he was shot May 2, by enemy forces in Mosul, Iraq.
He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
McCleery attended Portola High School and was on the wrestling team in 2003, graduating in 2004.
He is survived by his father, Joe, and sisters Chastity Sobrero and Lynette Flanagan; his mother, Colette, passed away in July 2005.
Memorial myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/rememberpfcmccleery
Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery was killed in action on 5/2/09.
Army Spc. Jake R. Velloza
Remember Our Heroes
Army Spc. Jake R. Velloza, 22, of Inverness, Calif.
Spc. Velloza was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 2, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, after being shot by enemy forces. Also killed was Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery.
Contra Costa Times -- To ready himself for his son's funeral, Bob Velloza on Sunday visited the cemetery where the body of 22-year-old Jake Velloza, a casualty of the war in Iraq, will be laid to rest Saturday in West Marin.
He found a weed patch. The Olema graveyard where Bob Velloza's grandfather once tended each headstone meticulously was so overgrown that many grave markers couldn't be seen. It was no place to bury a fallen soldier who will be buried there rather than a guaranteed plot at Arlington National Cemetery.
"It was a disgrace," said Bob's brother, Mike Velloza. "He knew he couldn't have people parking in grass that's 5 feet tall."
So Bob Velloza spent all day cutting the grass and straightening things up. He was planning on heading back Monday afternoon from his home in Inverness to continue the work.
"He's on a mission now. We have to honor Jake," Mike Velloza said.
Family, friends and complete strangers will pay respects over the next several days for Inverness resident Jake Velloza, a U.S. Army specialist who was killed May 2 in an ambush in Iraq. He is the second Marin County resident killed in the war.
The Velloza family announced Monday that a funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Olema, not far from the Velloza family's plot where his great-great-grandparents and great-grandparents are buried. The burial will be shortly after the Mass and feature an honor guard from the U.S. Army.
Visitation and viewing of the body is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma, followed by a vigil and reciting of the rosary at 7 p.m. at St. James Catholic Church in Petaluma.
On Wednesday, the casket is to be flown from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on a private jet to San Francisco International Airport where it will be met at noon by Bob and Susan Velloza, Jake's fiancŽe Danielle Erwin of Killeen, Texas and other family members.
From there, a procession led by the Patriot Guard, a group of motorcycle riders and military veterans, will ride through the city and up Highway 101 to the mortuary in Petaluma. Marin freeway overpasses are expected to be packed with well-wishers from law enforcement agencies, fire departments and the general public.
"We would love to see the public out there with their flags where they can be seen from the freeway," said Lynn Tross, a Patriot Guard organizer who lives in San Rafael. "It just means the world to these families to see that complete strangers are out there and they care, that this matters to them."
Overpasses were packed with flag-waving mourners in 2007 when the casket of Novato resident Nicholas Olson, also an Army specialist, was delivered home for burial. One of those paying respects that day was Susan Velloza, Jake's mother, who stopped on Manuel T. Freitas Parkway in Terra Linda.
"I just felt compelled to be there on my own," she said Monday. "I appreciated other people paying their respects. É (On Wednesday) I expect to see a lot of support from my friends who will be up there for Jake. A lot of my friends will be in the procession on their bikes."
Bob and Susan Velloza are members of the Rip City Riders, a social motorcycling club with a Marin chapter that raises funds for a number of charities.
Jake Velloza, a 2004 Tomales High School graduate and former College of Marin student, was killed along with his close friend, specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery of Portola (Plumas County), when a lone Iraqi gunman opened fire on a group of five Americans in the city of Mosul. American military officials have not released other details of the incident, but the family was told May 3 that Velloza was shot in the neck and died quickly.
Velloza, 22, and McCleery, 24, were both fire support specialists assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas. Both had been deployed to Iraq in December.
In his second tour of duty in Iraq, Velloza had been assigned to that unit since July 2006 when he first enlisted.
The Rev. Jack O'Neill is pastor at Sacred Heart in Olema, which can fit about 220 people in its pews. He visited the Velloza family the day the news was released as friends and neighbors congregated to support Jake's parents. That night, Bob and Susan Velloza departed for Dover Air Force Base to be present when the casket arrived from overseas.
"We are thankful that the Army now pays for families to fly back there for this kind of thing," Susan Velloza said. "The Obama administration made that policy change in early April, and I believe we were only the second family to benefit from it. It was amazing. We felt blessed to be able to do that."
O'Neill has presided over many military funerals. He is a veteran of the Navy and the Marines, serving 11 years with each, and served in such locations as Lebanon, Okinawa, Cuba, Antarctica and the Balkans. He said he understands why the Velloza family would turn down the opportunity to have Jake Velloza buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
"This is a West Marin kid and there is a West Marin spirit that makes them want to have it here," O'Neill said.
Army Spc. Jake R. Velloza was killed in action on 5/2/09.
Larger Images
Army Spc. Jake R. Velloza, 22, of Inverness, Calif.
Spc. Velloza was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 2, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, after being shot by enemy forces. Also killed was Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery.
Contra Costa Times -- To ready himself for his son's funeral, Bob Velloza on Sunday visited the cemetery where the body of 22-year-old Jake Velloza, a casualty of the war in Iraq, will be laid to rest Saturday in West Marin.
He found a weed patch. The Olema graveyard where Bob Velloza's grandfather once tended each headstone meticulously was so overgrown that many grave markers couldn't be seen. It was no place to bury a fallen soldier who will be buried there rather than a guaranteed plot at Arlington National Cemetery.
"It was a disgrace," said Bob's brother, Mike Velloza. "He knew he couldn't have people parking in grass that's 5 feet tall."
So Bob Velloza spent all day cutting the grass and straightening things up. He was planning on heading back Monday afternoon from his home in Inverness to continue the work.
"He's on a mission now. We have to honor Jake," Mike Velloza said.
Family, friends and complete strangers will pay respects over the next several days for Inverness resident Jake Velloza, a U.S. Army specialist who was killed May 2 in an ambush in Iraq. He is the second Marin County resident killed in the war.
The Velloza family announced Monday that a funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Olema, not far from the Velloza family's plot where his great-great-grandparents and great-grandparents are buried. The burial will be shortly after the Mass and feature an honor guard from the U.S. Army.
Visitation and viewing of the body is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma, followed by a vigil and reciting of the rosary at 7 p.m. at St. James Catholic Church in Petaluma.
On Wednesday, the casket is to be flown from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on a private jet to San Francisco International Airport where it will be met at noon by Bob and Susan Velloza, Jake's fiancŽe Danielle Erwin of Killeen, Texas and other family members.
From there, a procession led by the Patriot Guard, a group of motorcycle riders and military veterans, will ride through the city and up Highway 101 to the mortuary in Petaluma. Marin freeway overpasses are expected to be packed with well-wishers from law enforcement agencies, fire departments and the general public.
"We would love to see the public out there with their flags where they can be seen from the freeway," said Lynn Tross, a Patriot Guard organizer who lives in San Rafael. "It just means the world to these families to see that complete strangers are out there and they care, that this matters to them."
Overpasses were packed with flag-waving mourners in 2007 when the casket of Novato resident Nicholas Olson, also an Army specialist, was delivered home for burial. One of those paying respects that day was Susan Velloza, Jake's mother, who stopped on Manuel T. Freitas Parkway in Terra Linda.
"I just felt compelled to be there on my own," she said Monday. "I appreciated other people paying their respects. É (On Wednesday) I expect to see a lot of support from my friends who will be up there for Jake. A lot of my friends will be in the procession on their bikes."
Bob and Susan Velloza are members of the Rip City Riders, a social motorcycling club with a Marin chapter that raises funds for a number of charities.
Jake Velloza, a 2004 Tomales High School graduate and former College of Marin student, was killed along with his close friend, specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery of Portola (Plumas County), when a lone Iraqi gunman opened fire on a group of five Americans in the city of Mosul. American military officials have not released other details of the incident, but the family was told May 3 that Velloza was shot in the neck and died quickly.
Velloza, 22, and McCleery, 24, were both fire support specialists assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas. Both had been deployed to Iraq in December.
In his second tour of duty in Iraq, Velloza had been assigned to that unit since July 2006 when he first enlisted.
The Rev. Jack O'Neill is pastor at Sacred Heart in Olema, which can fit about 220 people in its pews. He visited the Velloza family the day the news was released as friends and neighbors congregated to support Jake's parents. That night, Bob and Susan Velloza departed for Dover Air Force Base to be present when the casket arrived from overseas.
"We are thankful that the Army now pays for families to fly back there for this kind of thing," Susan Velloza said. "The Obama administration made that policy change in early April, and I believe we were only the second family to benefit from it. It was amazing. We felt blessed to be able to do that."
O'Neill has presided over many military funerals. He is a veteran of the Navy and the Marines, serving 11 years with each, and served in such locations as Lebanon, Okinawa, Cuba, Antarctica and the Balkans. He said he understands why the Velloza family would turn down the opportunity to have Jake Velloza buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
"This is a West Marin kid and there is a West Marin spirit that makes them want to have it here," O'Neill said.
Army Spc. Jake R. Velloza was killed in action on 5/2/09.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Army Sgt. James D. Pirtle
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. James D. Pirtle, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Sgt. Pirtle was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 1, 2009 near the village of Nishagam, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit. Also killed were Spc. Ryan C. King and Staff Sgt. William D. Vile.
Colorado Springs Gazette -- When Dina Wood first saw James "Jimmy" Pirtle in middle school, his hair was dyed green and styled into spikes.
The Colorado Springs native wasn't the typical person who would grow up to join the Army, excel as a soldier and ultimately lose his life in combat.
"He was a good boy who turned into a really good man," Wood said.
Sgt. Pirtle was killed Friday in Afghanistan in an attack that also killed two other Americans and two allied troops. He was 21.
His mother, Patricia Pirtle, said her son was among the three American soldiers who died last week. An Army chaplain gave Patricia Pirtle the news on Friday.
"The storm door was open and it only took me a couple of seconds to notice she was a chaplain," Patricia Pirtle said. "She didn't even have to tell me. I knew."
Pirtle leaves behind his mother, father James Pirtle and sisters Jennifer Bergstrom and Jacqueline Pirtle.
Jimmy Pirtle graduated from Globe Charter School in 2006 and immediately enlisted in the Army, despite his mother's fears.
"Coming from a military family, I was very proud of him, but my first response was, ‘Why can't you wait until it's peace time?" Patricia Pirtle said.
She said he was very patriotic and an enthusiastic soldier who quickly worked his way up to sergeant. In Afghanistan, he often volunteered for missions that he knew would be dangerous, his mother said.
It worried her, but she took solace in knowing he was due home in June.
His friends and teachers at the small Globe Charter School said they still can't believe that he died. On Monday, a group of them gathered at the school to look at old photos and remember a friend who always had a smile on his face, was a constant joker and was also the butt of many jokes. Once, teachers and students duct-taped him to a tree because he said it couldn't be done.
"It took two full rolls," said teacher Jan Songer. "We left him out there for a while."
As he grew up, his hairstyle changed from green spikes to a mohawk to a more traditional short style. He also started contemplating joining the Army. When he enlisted, he was so excited that he tried to get all his friends to enlist as well. His friends said he knew the dangers, but that didn't deter him.
"He just wanted to be part of something bigger than himself," said Andrew Thurn, one of his best friends. "He was OK dying if he was serving his country."
After he joined, he changed for the better, Thurn said. He was still the same Jimmy with the same goofy grin, but he had also turned into a responsible man.
"It was as if the Army upgraded him. Like Jimmy 2.0," Thurn said.
Patricia Pirtle said her son will be buried at Fort Logan cemetery in Denver so he can be surrounded by other soldiers. The family is scheduling his funeral.
Wood, said that his death has opened her eyes to what is happening in the Middle East. She hopes other people understand that every soldier who dies there has a life and is an individual.
"Remember they are just not another soldier," Wood said. "They are a funny guy who used to have green hair who lived for others and his country."
Army Sgt. James D. Pirtle was killed in action on 5/1/09.
Army Sgt. James D. Pirtle, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Sgt. Pirtle was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 1, 2009 near the village of Nishagam, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit. Also killed were Spc. Ryan C. King and Staff Sgt. William D. Vile.
Colorado Springs Gazette -- When Dina Wood first saw James "Jimmy" Pirtle in middle school, his hair was dyed green and styled into spikes.
The Colorado Springs native wasn't the typical person who would grow up to join the Army, excel as a soldier and ultimately lose his life in combat.
"He was a good boy who turned into a really good man," Wood said.
Sgt. Pirtle was killed Friday in Afghanistan in an attack that also killed two other Americans and two allied troops. He was 21.
His mother, Patricia Pirtle, said her son was among the three American soldiers who died last week. An Army chaplain gave Patricia Pirtle the news on Friday.
"The storm door was open and it only took me a couple of seconds to notice she was a chaplain," Patricia Pirtle said. "She didn't even have to tell me. I knew."
Pirtle leaves behind his mother, father James Pirtle and sisters Jennifer Bergstrom and Jacqueline Pirtle.
Jimmy Pirtle graduated from Globe Charter School in 2006 and immediately enlisted in the Army, despite his mother's fears.
"Coming from a military family, I was very proud of him, but my first response was, ‘Why can't you wait until it's peace time?" Patricia Pirtle said.
She said he was very patriotic and an enthusiastic soldier who quickly worked his way up to sergeant. In Afghanistan, he often volunteered for missions that he knew would be dangerous, his mother said.
It worried her, but she took solace in knowing he was due home in June.
His friends and teachers at the small Globe Charter School said they still can't believe that he died. On Monday, a group of them gathered at the school to look at old photos and remember a friend who always had a smile on his face, was a constant joker and was also the butt of many jokes. Once, teachers and students duct-taped him to a tree because he said it couldn't be done.
"It took two full rolls," said teacher Jan Songer. "We left him out there for a while."
As he grew up, his hairstyle changed from green spikes to a mohawk to a more traditional short style. He also started contemplating joining the Army. When he enlisted, he was so excited that he tried to get all his friends to enlist as well. His friends said he knew the dangers, but that didn't deter him.
"He just wanted to be part of something bigger than himself," said Andrew Thurn, one of his best friends. "He was OK dying if he was serving his country."
After he joined, he changed for the better, Thurn said. He was still the same Jimmy with the same goofy grin, but he had also turned into a responsible man.
"It was as if the Army upgraded him. Like Jimmy 2.0," Thurn said.
Patricia Pirtle said her son will be buried at Fort Logan cemetery in Denver so he can be surrounded by other soldiers. The family is scheduling his funeral.
Wood, said that his death has opened her eyes to what is happening in the Middle East. She hopes other people understand that every soldier who dies there has a life and is an individual.
"Remember they are just not another soldier," Wood said. "They are a funny guy who used to have green hair who lived for others and his country."
Army Sgt. James D. Pirtle was killed in action on 5/1/09.
Army Spc. Ryan C. King
Remember Our Heroes
Army Spc. Ryan C. King, 22, of Dallas, Ga.
Spc. King was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 1, 2009 near the village of Nishagam, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit. Also killed were Sgt. James D. Pirtle and Staff Sgt. William D. Vile.
Kileen Daily Herald -- SPC Ryan Charles King, age 22, of Hobart, Indiana (formerly of Paulding County), passed away Friday, May 1, 2009, while serving his country in the U S Army, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
He was born on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 1986, in Marietta, GA. He attended Faith Lutheran Church in Marietta for many years.
He played baseball in Canton, Powder Springs, and Dallas over the years, and truly loved being a Georgia boy and a family man. SPC King was a graduate of East Paulding High School Class of 2005.
A few months after graduation he enlisted in the Army, something he had wanted to do since he was a child. He went to basic training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, followed by AIT at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. After he completed his training, he was stationed in Korea for a year, where he met his wife.
As a member of the Special Troops Battallion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry, they both left for deployment to Eastern Afghanistan in July 2008 and both were scheduled to return to Fort Hood in Texas in June 2009. SPC King was respected and loved by many and will be missed, but never forgotten.
Survivors include his wife, SGT Rachel Nicole Smith King; father, Charles Stanley King of Temple, GA; mother, Candice R. King & partner, Sandra Moore of Decatur, GA; younger brothers, Tyler King of Temple, GA and Dante Moore of Decatur, GA; grandparents, Dorothea King of Temple, GA and Tommy & Nancy Roberts of Dallas, GA; as well as many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, May12, 2009, at 11:00 am, from Clark Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow in Georgia National Cemetery, Canton, GA, at 2:00 pm, with full military honors. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday from 3:00 pm until 8:00 pm.
Georgia soldier killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
ATLANTA, Ga. — A 22-year-old Georgia soldier has been killed in Afghanistan.
Ryan C. King of Paulding County, an Army specialist and a member of the Special Troops Battalion, died May 1 in a fire fight with insurgents in Konar Province.
The Pentagon said a fellow soldier, Sgt. James D. Pirtle of Colorado Springs, Colo., also was killed in the attack.
Funeral arrangements are pending for the fallen soldiers.
Army Spc. Ryan C. King was killed in action on 5/1/09.
Army Spc. Ryan C. King, 22, of Dallas, Ga.
Spc. King was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 1, 2009 near the village of Nishagam, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit. Also killed were Sgt. James D. Pirtle and Staff Sgt. William D. Vile.
Kileen Daily Herald -- SPC Ryan Charles King, age 22, of Hobart, Indiana (formerly of Paulding County), passed away Friday, May 1, 2009, while serving his country in the U S Army, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
He was born on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 1986, in Marietta, GA. He attended Faith Lutheran Church in Marietta for many years.
He played baseball in Canton, Powder Springs, and Dallas over the years, and truly loved being a Georgia boy and a family man. SPC King was a graduate of East Paulding High School Class of 2005.
A few months after graduation he enlisted in the Army, something he had wanted to do since he was a child. He went to basic training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, followed by AIT at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. After he completed his training, he was stationed in Korea for a year, where he met his wife.
As a member of the Special Troops Battallion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry, they both left for deployment to Eastern Afghanistan in July 2008 and both were scheduled to return to Fort Hood in Texas in June 2009. SPC King was respected and loved by many and will be missed, but never forgotten.
Survivors include his wife, SGT Rachel Nicole Smith King; father, Charles Stanley King of Temple, GA; mother, Candice R. King & partner, Sandra Moore of Decatur, GA; younger brothers, Tyler King of Temple, GA and Dante Moore of Decatur, GA; grandparents, Dorothea King of Temple, GA and Tommy & Nancy Roberts of Dallas, GA; as well as many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, May12, 2009, at 11:00 am, from Clark Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow in Georgia National Cemetery, Canton, GA, at 2:00 pm, with full military honors. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday from 3:00 pm until 8:00 pm.
Georgia soldier killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
ATLANTA, Ga. — A 22-year-old Georgia soldier has been killed in Afghanistan.
Ryan C. King of Paulding County, an Army specialist and a member of the Special Troops Battalion, died May 1 in a fire fight with insurgents in Konar Province.
The Pentagon said a fellow soldier, Sgt. James D. Pirtle of Colorado Springs, Colo., also was killed in the attack.
Funeral arrangements are pending for the fallen soldiers.
Army Spc. Ryan C. King was killed in action on 5/1/09.
Army Staff Sgt. William D. Vile
Remember Our Heroes
Army Staff Sgt. William D. Vile, 27, of Philadelphia
SSgt. Vile was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using direct fire May 1, 2009 near the village of Nishagam, Konar province, Afghanistan. Also killed were Sgt. James D. Pirtle and Spc. Ryan C. King.
Army identifies remains of Riley soldier
By Gina Cavallaro
Staff writer
The remains of a Pennsylvania soldier previously listed by the Army as “duty status whereabouts unknown” have been positively identified by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, the Defense Department announced Tuesday in a press release.
Staff Sgt. William D. Vile, 27, of Philadelphia, who was assigned to a military transition team in Afghanistan, died of wounds suffered in an attack May 1 when insurgents attacked his unit using direct fire and rocket-propelled grenades, officials said.
The attack took place in the village of Nishagam, Konar province.
Sgt. James D. Pirtle, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Spc. Ryan C. King, 22, of Dallas, Ga. — both were assigned to Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, of Fort Hood, Texas — also died in the attack.
Vile was assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, from Fort Riley, Kan.
Soldiers and service members from other branches of the military are trained at Fort Riley in a 60-day course to advise, teach, mentor and coach their counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army Staff Sgt. William D. Vile was killed in action on 5/1/09.
Army Staff Sgt. William D. Vile, 27, of Philadelphia
SSgt. Vile was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using direct fire May 1, 2009 near the village of Nishagam, Konar province, Afghanistan. Also killed were Sgt. James D. Pirtle and Spc. Ryan C. King.
Army identifies remains of Riley soldier
By Gina Cavallaro
Staff writer
The remains of a Pennsylvania soldier previously listed by the Army as “duty status whereabouts unknown” have been positively identified by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, the Defense Department announced Tuesday in a press release.
Staff Sgt. William D. Vile, 27, of Philadelphia, who was assigned to a military transition team in Afghanistan, died of wounds suffered in an attack May 1 when insurgents attacked his unit using direct fire and rocket-propelled grenades, officials said.
The attack took place in the village of Nishagam, Konar province.
Sgt. James D. Pirtle, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Spc. Ryan C. King, 22, of Dallas, Ga. — both were assigned to Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, of Fort Hood, Texas — also died in the attack.
Vile was assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, from Fort Riley, Kan.
Soldiers and service members from other branches of the military are trained at Fort Riley in a 60-day course to advise, teach, mentor and coach their counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army Staff Sgt. William D. Vile was killed in action on 5/1/09.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Army Cpl. Brad A. Davis
Remember Our Heroes
Army Cpl. Brad A. Davis, 21, of Garfield Heights, Ohio
Cpl. Davis was assigned to the 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died April 22, 2009 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
Sister recalls soldier’s sense of humor
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Family members say they’ve learned that an Ohio soldier was killed by a roadside bomb this week while on his second tour in Iraq.
Relatives of 21-year-old Spc. Brad Davis says officers came to the family’s home in the Cleveland suburb of Garfield Heights Wednesday night to say Davis had died earlier that day.
His sister, Jennifer Gardner, says Davis planned to leave the military when his current deployment ended in December.
Davis was a 2006 graduate of Garfield Heights High School. Gardner says he was the type who was always there for you but he also had a prankster side.
The military had not made an official announcement of the death as of Friday. An Army spokesman said the practice was to wait 24 hours after all next of kin had been contacted.
Davis was examining post-military careers
The Associated Press
Brad A. Davis had been scheduled to come home for a two-week leave in June. As he did on other leaves, Davis’ family expected he would be organizing cornhole and sports tournaments with a large group of high school and military friends.
“He was a kid everybody liked, just a great kid,” said his former football coach, Chuck Reisland. “The news really upset a lot of us. He was just the sort of young man you want to have on your team.”
Davis, 21, of Garfield Heights, Ohio, died April 22 of injuries suffered when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle near Baghdad. He was a 2006 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Bragg.
One of his sisters, Jennifer Gardner, said her brother “had seen a lot” in his first deployment and was looking forward to leaving the military when his current one-year tour in Iraq ended in December. She said he planned to go back to school for a career in pharmacy or law enforcement.
“He was very friendly, like I would always see him in the hallways and he was always smiling, laughing and joking,” said Christie Irey, a former classmate.
He also is survived by his parents, Bob and Terri.
Army Cpl. Brad A. Davis was killed in action on 4/22/09.
Larger Images
Army Cpl. Brad A. Davis, 21, of Garfield Heights, Ohio
Cpl. Davis was assigned to the 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died April 22, 2009 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
Sister recalls soldier’s sense of humor
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Family members say they’ve learned that an Ohio soldier was killed by a roadside bomb this week while on his second tour in Iraq.
Relatives of 21-year-old Spc. Brad Davis says officers came to the family’s home in the Cleveland suburb of Garfield Heights Wednesday night to say Davis had died earlier that day.
His sister, Jennifer Gardner, says Davis planned to leave the military when his current deployment ended in December.
Davis was a 2006 graduate of Garfield Heights High School. Gardner says he was the type who was always there for you but he also had a prankster side.
The military had not made an official announcement of the death as of Friday. An Army spokesman said the practice was to wait 24 hours after all next of kin had been contacted.
Davis was examining post-military careers
The Associated Press
Brad A. Davis had been scheduled to come home for a two-week leave in June. As he did on other leaves, Davis’ family expected he would be organizing cornhole and sports tournaments with a large group of high school and military friends.
“He was a kid everybody liked, just a great kid,” said his former football coach, Chuck Reisland. “The news really upset a lot of us. He was just the sort of young man you want to have on your team.”
Davis, 21, of Garfield Heights, Ohio, died April 22 of injuries suffered when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle near Baghdad. He was a 2006 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Bragg.
One of his sisters, Jennifer Gardner, said her brother “had seen a lot” in his first deployment and was looking forward to leaving the military when his current one-year tour in Iraq ended in December. She said he planned to go back to school for a career in pharmacy or law enforcement.
“He was very friendly, like I would always see him in the hallways and he was always smiling, laughing and joking,” said Christie Irey, a former classmate.
He also is survived by his parents, Bob and Terri.
Army Cpl. Brad A. Davis was killed in action on 4/22/09.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Army Cpl. Michael J. Anaya
Remember Our Heroes
Army Cpl. Michael J. Anaya, 23, of Crestview, Fla.
Cpl. Anaya was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; died April 12, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
Always envisioned serving in military
The Associated Press
Michael J. Anaya had dreams of being in the military since he was a little boy. His family said he’d don a uniform to pretend he was a soldier.
“He knew the risk, and he said that’s what he loved and that’s what his life was meant for,” said Katie Rowe, who is engaged to his older brother, Carmelo Jr. “He has, ever since he was 5 years old, known that’s what he wanted to do.”
Anaya, 23, of Crestview, Fla., died April 12 in Bayji when his truck drove over a roadside bomb. He was assigned to Schofield Barracks.
“It didn’t take long for someone to become best friends with Anaya,” said Pfc. Daniel Hicks. “He was always laughing and making everyone around have a great time.”
Lt. Col. Raul E. Gonzalez said, “His courage, compassion and character have left an indelible mark on the men of this battalion.”
Anaya loved fishing, cooking on the grill and fighting for his country.
“He had a switch where he could go from Anaya to Anayalator,” said Sgt. Daniel Demuth. “When he got in that uniform and he flipped that switch into soldier mode, he was a force to be reckoned with.”
He is survived by his parents, Carmelo Sr. and Cheryl.
Army Cpl. Michael J. Anaya was killed in action on 4/12/09.
Larger Images
Army Cpl. Michael J. Anaya, 23, of Crestview, Fla.
Cpl. Anaya was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; died April 12, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.
Always envisioned serving in military
The Associated Press
Michael J. Anaya had dreams of being in the military since he was a little boy. His family said he’d don a uniform to pretend he was a soldier.
“He knew the risk, and he said that’s what he loved and that’s what his life was meant for,” said Katie Rowe, who is engaged to his older brother, Carmelo Jr. “He has, ever since he was 5 years old, known that’s what he wanted to do.”
Anaya, 23, of Crestview, Fla., died April 12 in Bayji when his truck drove over a roadside bomb. He was assigned to Schofield Barracks.
“It didn’t take long for someone to become best friends with Anaya,” said Pfc. Daniel Hicks. “He was always laughing and making everyone around have a great time.”
Lt. Col. Raul E. Gonzalez said, “His courage, compassion and character have left an indelible mark on the men of this battalion.”
Anaya loved fishing, cooking on the grill and fighting for his country.
“He had a switch where he could go from Anaya to Anayalator,” said Sgt. Daniel Demuth. “When he got in that uniform and he flipped that switch into soldier mode, he was a force to be reckoned with.”
He is survived by his parents, Carmelo Sr. and Cheryl.
Army Cpl. Michael J. Anaya was killed in action on 4/12/09.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Army Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr.
Remember Our Heroes
Army Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky.
SSgt. Woods was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch and Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier.
100's attend Woods’ funeral
The Associated Press
SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. — More than 100 people gathered for a funeral for a Kentucky soldier killed in Iraq.
The funeral April 19 for Army Staff Sgt. Gary Lee Woods of Lebanon Junction was held at Bullitt Central High School, his alma mater.
WHAS11 reported the 24-year-old soldier’s body was escorted April 16 from Fort Knox to a funeral home in Shepherdsville.
The Pentagon said Woods and four other soldiers were killed April 10 when a suicide bomber detonated a ton of explosives near a police headquarters in the northern city of Mosul.
Soldier brought instruments everywhere, even Iraq
The Associated Press
Patrick Keller, who served with Gary L. Woods Jr. in Iraq, remembered him as a fine soldier who cracked jokes to break up the most tense situations and also for Woods’ love of music.
Woods’ musical instruments “always cluttered his area and his house, and seemed to follow him wherever he went,” Keller said.
“I remember on more than one occasion he’d be busting out his acoustic guitar in Iraq and entertaining the rest of us. We used to joke around and tell him that he should release an album entitled ‘Talifar Unplugged,’ ” referring to an Iraqi town.
Woods, 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky., died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was assigned to Fort Carson.
Sister-in-law MaRanda Green said she and Woods would combine to give her sister Christy, Woods’ wife, a hard time, leading Christy to say, “Oh Lord, I’ve married my sister in guy form.”
Green told of when the family was snowed in one Christmas, and Woods volunteered to shovel out all the cars.
“That little turkey had shoveled all the snow behind my Jetta,” she said. “I was the only one who couldn’t get out. He laughed and he laughed and then he left me there.”
Army Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr. was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Army Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky.
SSgt. Woods was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch and Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier.
100's attend Woods’ funeral
The Associated Press
SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. — More than 100 people gathered for a funeral for a Kentucky soldier killed in Iraq.
The funeral April 19 for Army Staff Sgt. Gary Lee Woods of Lebanon Junction was held at Bullitt Central High School, his alma mater.
WHAS11 reported the 24-year-old soldier’s body was escorted April 16 from Fort Knox to a funeral home in Shepherdsville.
The Pentagon said Woods and four other soldiers were killed April 10 when a suicide bomber detonated a ton of explosives near a police headquarters in the northern city of Mosul.
Soldier brought instruments everywhere, even Iraq
The Associated Press
Patrick Keller, who served with Gary L. Woods Jr. in Iraq, remembered him as a fine soldier who cracked jokes to break up the most tense situations and also for Woods’ love of music.
Woods’ musical instruments “always cluttered his area and his house, and seemed to follow him wherever he went,” Keller said.
“I remember on more than one occasion he’d be busting out his acoustic guitar in Iraq and entertaining the rest of us. We used to joke around and tell him that he should release an album entitled ‘Talifar Unplugged,’ ” referring to an Iraqi town.
Woods, 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky., died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was assigned to Fort Carson.
Sister-in-law MaRanda Green said she and Woods would combine to give her sister Christy, Woods’ wife, a hard time, leading Christy to say, “Oh Lord, I’ve married my sister in guy form.”
Green told of when the family was snowed in one Christmas, and Woods volunteered to shovel out all the cars.
“That little turkey had shoveled all the snow behind my Jetta,” she said. “I was the only one who couldn’t get out. He laughed and he laughed and then he left me there.”
Army Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr. was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Army Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch
Remember Our Heroes
Army Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch, 20, of Davenport, Iowa
Cpl. Pautsch was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr. and Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier.
More than 500 attend Davenport soldier’s funeral
The Associated Press
DAVENPORT, Iowa — More than 500 people gathered to remember a Davenport soldier killed earlier this month in Iraq.
Cpl. Jason Pautsch, 20, was among five Americans killed in a suicide bomber attack near Mosul on April 10.
Pautsch graduated from Davenport North High School in 2007. He was a squadron leader in the Army's 4th Infantry Division.
His three brothers and sister each spoke during his funeral Tuesday in Davenport, describing him as fun-loving and a good listener.
His brother Jared, who is also in the military, told of how the two of them would sneak out of their barracks at Fort Benning, Ga., and rappel out the window after curfew so they could watch episodes of "Family Guy" on his laptop.
The governors of Iowa and Illinois also attended the funeral.
Soldier was defined by his faith, friend says
The Associated Press
Drew Virtue was close friends with Jason G. Pautsch since sixth grade and they played football together.
“There’s a lot of things I can say about Jason,” Virtue said. “One of the things that stands out about him is his faith. Jason had real strong faith. I’m sure he’s up in heaven looking down on us now.”
Pautsch, 20, of Davenport, Iowa, died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was assigned to Fort Carson.
Pautsch graduated from high school in 2006 a semester early, blowing off the senior prom and being able to graduate with his friends so he could enlist in the Army. He was a thrill-seeker who enjoyed hunting and BMX biking in his spare time.
On the football field, on the wrestling mat and in all he did, Jason “had a lot of hustle, more than anybody I ever knew,” Virtue said.
“There’s never a bad moment with Jason,” he added. “I could go on for days and days about him and still it wouldn’t do him justice.
He is survived by his parents, David Pautsch and Teri Johnson.
Of being in the military, his father said: “I remember he told me once, ‘You know, Dad, I’m really good at this.’ ”
Army Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Army Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch, 20, of Davenport, Iowa
Cpl. Pautsch was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr. and Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier.
More than 500 attend Davenport soldier’s funeral
The Associated Press
DAVENPORT, Iowa — More than 500 people gathered to remember a Davenport soldier killed earlier this month in Iraq.
Cpl. Jason Pautsch, 20, was among five Americans killed in a suicide bomber attack near Mosul on April 10.
Pautsch graduated from Davenport North High School in 2007. He was a squadron leader in the Army's 4th Infantry Division.
His three brothers and sister each spoke during his funeral Tuesday in Davenport, describing him as fun-loving and a good listener.
His brother Jared, who is also in the military, told of how the two of them would sneak out of their barracks at Fort Benning, Ga., and rappel out the window after curfew so they could watch episodes of "Family Guy" on his laptop.
The governors of Iowa and Illinois also attended the funeral.
Soldier was defined by his faith, friend says
The Associated Press
Drew Virtue was close friends with Jason G. Pautsch since sixth grade and they played football together.
“There’s a lot of things I can say about Jason,” Virtue said. “One of the things that stands out about him is his faith. Jason had real strong faith. I’m sure he’s up in heaven looking down on us now.”
Pautsch, 20, of Davenport, Iowa, died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was assigned to Fort Carson.
Pautsch graduated from high school in 2006 a semester early, blowing off the senior prom and being able to graduate with his friends so he could enlist in the Army. He was a thrill-seeker who enjoyed hunting and BMX biking in his spare time.
On the football field, on the wrestling mat and in all he did, Jason “had a lot of hustle, more than anybody I ever knew,” Virtue said.
“There’s never a bad moment with Jason,” he added. “I could go on for days and days about him and still it wouldn’t do him justice.
He is survived by his parents, David Pautsch and Teri Johnson.
Of being in the military, his father said: “I remember he told me once, ‘You know, Dad, I’m really good at this.’ ”
Army Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Senior Airman Jacob I. Ramsey
Remember Our Heroes
Senior Airman Jacob I. Ramsey, 20, of Hesperia, Calif.
SAr Ramsey was assigned to the 712th Air Support Operations Squadron, Fort Hood, Texas; died April 10, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.
Work ethic made Ramsey stand out
The Associated Press
Jacob I. Ramsey’s above-average work ethic got noticed.
Often, his buddies would jokingly criticize him for his extra efforts because he out-shined them. Ramsey practically refused to take time away from work, showing up for extra duty even when on leave following his first deployment to Afghanistan.
“He showed up everybody,” Senior Airman Thomas Rentschler said.
Ramsey, 20, of Hesperia, Calif., died April 10 of wounds suffered from a noncombat-related incident in Kabul. He was a 2005 high school graduate — graduating early, of course — and was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. He was on his second tour.
“He had a great personality. Happy go lucky, easygoing,” said Luke Chappell, who taught Ramsey printing and graphics for two semesters in 2005. “He did some very extraordinary work in the classroom.”
“Jacob was a very diligent student, a simply nice guy, respectful and considerate,” said Hesperia High English teacher Connie Moore, who taught Ramsey during his junior year.
“It would take more than a few words to express the amount of love he shared with all of us,” Senior Airman Joseph Whitmarsh said.
Senior Airman Jacob I. Ramsey was killed in a non-combat related incident on 4/10/09.
Senior Airman Jacob I. Ramsey, 20, of Hesperia, Calif.
SAr Ramsey was assigned to the 712th Air Support Operations Squadron, Fort Hood, Texas; died April 10, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.
Work ethic made Ramsey stand out
The Associated Press
Jacob I. Ramsey’s above-average work ethic got noticed.
Often, his buddies would jokingly criticize him for his extra efforts because he out-shined them. Ramsey practically refused to take time away from work, showing up for extra duty even when on leave following his first deployment to Afghanistan.
“He showed up everybody,” Senior Airman Thomas Rentschler said.
Ramsey, 20, of Hesperia, Calif., died April 10 of wounds suffered from a noncombat-related incident in Kabul. He was a 2005 high school graduate — graduating early, of course — and was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. He was on his second tour.
“He had a great personality. Happy go lucky, easygoing,” said Luke Chappell, who taught Ramsey printing and graphics for two semesters in 2005. “He did some very extraordinary work in the classroom.”
“Jacob was a very diligent student, a simply nice guy, respectful and considerate,” said Hesperia High English teacher Connie Moore, who taught Ramsey during his junior year.
“It would take more than a few words to express the amount of love he shared with all of us,” Senior Airman Joseph Whitmarsh said.
Senior Airman Jacob I. Ramsey was killed in a non-combat related incident on 4/10/09.
Army Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr.
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., 25, of St. Louis, Mo.
Sgt. Edward Forrest was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch and Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier.
Soldier showed dedication to his ‘brothers’
The Associated Press
Edward W. Forrest Jr.’s sister asked him not to re-enlist and go to war for the third time.
“I told him I didn’t want him to be a hero. I just wanted him to be my brother,” said Melissa Forrest-Pliner. “But he said he owed it to his brothers — that’s what he called the soldiers in his unit — to go back and help them finish up the job.”
Forrest, 25, of St. Louis died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was a 2003 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Carson.
In high school, Forrest, known as “Eddie,” was a long-distance runner and was also on the wrestling team.
“He was a very enthusiastic member of the track and field program,” said his former coach, Rolland Garrison. “He was a very good kid with a great smile.”
Forrest and his wife, Stephanie, were living in Colorado Springs with their 3-year-old son, Bradan, and a newborn son, Jameson.
“Edward was home last month to witness the birth of their youngest,” said his father-in-law, Ron Foster. “Edward returned to Iraq for his third tour of duty right after the birth.”
Army Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr. was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Larger Images
Army Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., 25, of St. Louis, Mo.
Sgt. Edward Forrest was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch and Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier.
Soldier showed dedication to his ‘brothers’
The Associated Press
Edward W. Forrest Jr.’s sister asked him not to re-enlist and go to war for the third time.
“I told him I didn’t want him to be a hero. I just wanted him to be my brother,” said Melissa Forrest-Pliner. “But he said he owed it to his brothers — that’s what he called the soldiers in his unit — to go back and help them finish up the job.”
Forrest, 25, of St. Louis died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was a 2003 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Carson.
In high school, Forrest, known as “Eddie,” was a long-distance runner and was also on the wrestling team.
“He was a very enthusiastic member of the track and field program,” said his former coach, Rolland Garrison. “He was a very good kid with a great smile.”
Forrest and his wife, Stephanie, were living in Colorado Springs with their 3-year-old son, Bradan, and a newborn son, Jameson.
“Edward was home last month to witness the birth of their youngest,” said his father-in-law, Ron Foster. “Edward returned to Iraq for his third tour of duty right after the birth.”
Army Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr. was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Army Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier
Remember Our Heroes
Army Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier, 22, of Cypress, Calif.
Pfc. Gautier was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr. and Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch.
Gautier envisioned career as nurse
The Associated Press
Bryce E. Gautier decided to join the Army two years ago, writing on his MySpace page: “I am ready to finally grow up.”
“I need a change, I need some structure,” he wrote. “I want to have my family be proud of me for what and who I am.”
Gautier, 22, of Cypress, Calif., died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was assigned to Fort Carson.
He graduated from Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove in 2005. He was captain on the water polo team in his senior year and according to his yearbook was voted “most dependable” of the senior class.
Gautier posted to his MySpace page as he trained to become a combat medic. After leaving the service, he intended to become a nurse.
His brother Evan said Gautier had the ability to remain calm in emergencies and never flinched at the site of blood.
“He always really wanted to help people,” his brother said. “He was going to hopefully make a difference, saving lives.”
He also is survived by his mother, Heidi Frankel. Gautier’s father — whom he described as “my biggest hero ever” — died April 10, 2008, one year to the day of his death.
Army Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Army Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier, 22, of Cypress, Calif.
Pfc. Gautier was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr. and Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch.
Gautier envisioned career as nurse
The Associated Press
Bryce E. Gautier decided to join the Army two years ago, writing on his MySpace page: “I am ready to finally grow up.”
“I need a change, I need some structure,” he wrote. “I want to have my family be proud of me for what and who I am.”
Gautier, 22, of Cypress, Calif., died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was assigned to Fort Carson.
He graduated from Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove in 2005. He was captain on the water polo team in his senior year and according to his yearbook was voted “most dependable” of the senior class.
Gautier posted to his MySpace page as he trained to become a combat medic. After leaving the service, he intended to become a nurse.
His brother Evan said Gautier had the ability to remain calm in emergencies and never flinched at the site of blood.
“He always really wanted to help people,” his brother said. “He was going to hopefully make a difference, saving lives.”
He also is survived by his mother, Heidi Frankel. Gautier’s father — whom he described as “my biggest hero ever” — died April 10, 2008, one year to the day of his death.
Army Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, 32, of Elk Grove, Calif.
SFC Hall was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch and Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier.
Family didn’t know about humble soldier’s honors
The Associated Press
Bryan E. Hall received three Army commendation medals, as well as good Army achievement, good conduct and war on terrorism medals.
His mother, Betty Hall, said she had learned of the honors bestowed on her son only after his death.
“He was such a humble man,” she said.
Hall, 32, of Elk Grove, Calif., died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was a 1994 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Carson.
“He was a special person, he never boasted about his accomplishments or was arrogant and pompous, he did his job,” his sister, Kristi, said. “When he was done with his job, he came home and he was a father, a husband, a son and a brother. He embodied what I think every soldier would want to be.”
Neighbor Clyde Colton remembers Hall as a man who loved camping, fishing and hunting. “He was quite the outdoorsman,” Colton said.
He is survived by his wife, Rachel, and 2-year-old daughter Addison.
“He loved his family and he just adored his wife and little baby girl,” said his mother. “He was very proud to be a military man — he felt he was doing what he needed to be doing.”
Army Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall, 32, of Elk Grove, Calif.
SFC Hall was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died April 10, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by a suicide bomber. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Gary L. Woods Jr., Sgt. Edward W. Forrest Jr., Cpl. Jason G. Pautsch and Pfc. Bryce E. Gautier.
Family didn’t know about humble soldier’s honors
The Associated Press
Bryan E. Hall received three Army commendation medals, as well as good Army achievement, good conduct and war on terrorism medals.
His mother, Betty Hall, said she had learned of the honors bestowed on her son only after his death.
“He was such a humble man,” she said.
Hall, 32, of Elk Grove, Calif., died April 10 when his vehicle was struck by an explosive in Mosul. He was a 1994 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Carson.
“He was a special person, he never boasted about his accomplishments or was arrogant and pompous, he did his job,” his sister, Kristi, said. “When he was done with his job, he came home and he was a father, a husband, a son and a brother. He embodied what I think every soldier would want to be.”
Neighbor Clyde Colton remembers Hall as a man who loved camping, fishing and hunting. “He was quite the outdoorsman,” Colton said.
He is survived by his wife, Rachel, and 2-year-old daughter Addison.
“He loved his family and he just adored his wife and little baby girl,” said his mother. “He was very proud to be a military man — he felt he was doing what he needed to be doing.”
Army Sgt. 1st Class Bryan E. Hall was killed in action on 4/10/09.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Marine Lance Cpl. Blaise A. Oleski
Remember Our Heroes
Marine Lance Cpl. Blaise A. Oleski, 22, of Holland Patent, N.Y.
LCpl. Oleski was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died April 8, 2009 while supporting combat operations in Now Zad, Afghanistan.
Served as supportive figure in friends’ lives
The Associated Press
From the mountains of Afghanistan, Blaise A. Oleski wondered what he would do when his enlistment period was up in a year. He talked of becoming a firefighter or perhaps a rock-climbing instructor. He wanted to hike the Adirondack Trail.
In one of his last calls, Blaise told his mom of all of his plans. “He said Mom, I’d need five lifetimes to do all the things I want to do,’ ” Theresa Oleski said.
Oleski, 22, of Holland Patent, N.Y., died April 8 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province. He was a 2004 high school graduate and was assigned to Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Those who knew Oleski described him as a kind and compassionate man who joined the military out of principle. A wristband he wore at the time of his death read “fighting for freedom.”
They also spoke of how easily he made friends and the emotional support he so often provided to those around him.
“You’re not allowed to have a breakdown,” he told friend Amanda Santamour once during his deployment. “I need you to be resilient. But if you really need me, I’m on my way. I just need to find a camel.”
He also is survived by his father, Paul.
Marine Lance Cpl. Blaise A. Oleski was killed in action on 4/8/09.
Marine Lance Cpl. Blaise A. Oleski, 22, of Holland Patent, N.Y.
LCpl. Oleski was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died April 8, 2009 while supporting combat operations in Now Zad, Afghanistan.
Served as supportive figure in friends’ lives
The Associated Press
From the mountains of Afghanistan, Blaise A. Oleski wondered what he would do when his enlistment period was up in a year. He talked of becoming a firefighter or perhaps a rock-climbing instructor. He wanted to hike the Adirondack Trail.
In one of his last calls, Blaise told his mom of all of his plans. “He said Mom, I’d need five lifetimes to do all the things I want to do,’ ” Theresa Oleski said.
Oleski, 22, of Holland Patent, N.Y., died April 8 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province. He was a 2004 high school graduate and was assigned to Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Those who knew Oleski described him as a kind and compassionate man who joined the military out of principle. A wristband he wore at the time of his death read “fighting for freedom.”
They also spoke of how easily he made friends and the emotional support he so often provided to those around him.
“You’re not allowed to have a breakdown,” he told friend Amanda Santamour once during his deployment. “I need you to be resilient. But if you really need me, I’m on my way. I just need to find a camel.”
He also is survived by his father, Paul.
Marine Lance Cpl. Blaise A. Oleski was killed in action on 4/8/09.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Phillip A Myers
Remember Our Heroes
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Phillip A Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Va.
TSgt. Myers was assigned to the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron, Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom; died April 4, 2009 near Helmand province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device.
Family permitted media at Dover arrival
By Beth Miller
The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal / Gannett News Service
DOVER, Del. — The service of Air Force Tech. Sgt. Phillip A. Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Va., was not finished when he died Saturday in Afghanistan of injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device.
Late Sunday night, the arrival of Myers’ body at Dover Air Force Base in a flag-draped transfer case became a powerful reminder to his nation and the world of the sacrifices made by members of the armed forces and the high cost of war.
His return also marked an early watershed in the administration of President Barack Obama, a nod in favor of transparency and away from secrecy favored by prior administrations.
Thousands of fallen troops have returned to the United States through the military’s primary mortuary at Dover Air Force Base. Their flights are met by an honor guard, by military officers, by a chaplain and other dignitaries. Their remains are afforded the highest respect and precision as they are processed for return to their final destination.
But until Sunday night, no news coverage of the returns had been permitted since 1991, when President George H.W. Bush and then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney banned media coverage.
Privacy was cited as the primary reason.
That changed as Myers’ flag-draped transfer case was escorted by an eight-member carry team with crisp, solemn precision to a waiting van from the jet that had carried it from Ramstein, Germany. On Sunday, a few more than two dozen media members quietly snapped pictures, scribbled notes or trained video cameras at the procession shortly after the plane landed at 10:30 p.m.
The casket of an Army soldier was taken down first. That soldier’s family was not asked for permission for media viewing because of time constraints.
“My heart is broken for this family,” said Judy Campbell, chair of Gold Star Families of Delaware, which honors those who have lost a family member in military service. “Their life is changed forever. I hope that having this picture of their loved one returning, that in the years to come it will give them some peace ... some comfort.”
For almost 20 years, that hadn’t been possible. Glimpses of the returns were made available only when the Pentagon released hundreds of its own photos after a 2005 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by University of Delaware professor and former CNN correspondent Ralph Begleiter.
The media ban was lifted last month after Obama ordered a review of the policy. After the review, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates decided coverage would be permitted — but only with the family’s consent.
Obama opened the door to reconsidering the policy in his first prime-time news conference as president in early February. He said he had not decided on the policy and wouldn’t until “I have evaluated that review and understand all the implications involved.”
Vice President Joe Biden in 2004 had urged a change to the policy, when the then-senator told CNN: “This is the last long ride home. These young men and women are heroes. And the idea that they’re essentially snuck back into the country under the cover of night so no one can see that their casket has arrived, I just think is wrong.”
Almost all of the 4,266 casualties in Iraq and the 668 casualties in Afghanistan through the end of March have come through Dover’s mortuary, military officials said earlier this year.
Dover and Pentagon officials could not provide the total number of transfers that have come through Dover, but Air Force spokesman Vince King said in February that 3,867 had come through Dover between May 2004 and May 2008.
Families and military members have been divided on whether the policy should have been changed.
Some agreed with Biden that acknowledging and honoring the fallen troops is an important part of the nation’s ability to better understand the cost of war and the sacrifices made by service members and their families.
Others were concerned that such coverage would be used to advance a political anti-war agenda — as some did in the Vietnam War years — or turn a somber occasion into a “media circus.”
As the window was opened Sunday night to readmit the public to the returns, the procedures put in place by the military were tight and designed to allow the procession to be recorded without allowing media to interfere.
About 30 media members boarded a bus in the Blue Hen Corporate Center at 9 p.m. for transport to the nearby base, then briefed and taken to a restricted area from which they would observe and record.
Each representative signed a set of rules that included a prohibition on taking any images of family members who might be on hand.
No live filming was allowed, nor were “stand-ups,” in which a commentator speaks into a camera as the action unfolds in the backdrop.
The military rules advised media members that “there will be no unnecessary noise or movement during the transfer. Movement required to perform duties should be conducted in a slow and deliberate manner in an effort to not distract from the event.”
Maj. Paul Villagran assumed a new job as director of public affairs for the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center a week ago to prepare for the change in policy, which was to take effect Monday. By Sunday, more than 80 members of the media had registered to be notified of a permitted return.
Villagran said all was devised to protect the family’s privacy and preserve the honor and dignity of the return.
“There is no amount of effort we wouldn’t put forward to provide that care and support,” Villagran said Saturday.
Myers’ widow was the first to be asked about media coverage and granted permission. She was flown into Dover on Sunday night from the RAF base in Lakenheath, England, where Myers had been assigned to the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron.
Myers died Saturday near Helmand province. He was awarded the Bronze Star at a March 19, 2008, ceremony at Lakenheath. He also had won the Air Force-level 2008 Major General Eugene A. Lupia Awards military technician category for significant achievements.
Other family members drove to Dover on Sunday from Virginia. The military paid for all family travel expenses to Dover.
At precisely 11 p.m., a dark blue shuttle bus carrying family members arrived, and an eight-member carry team, all wearing white gloves, marched to the aircraft. They slowly mounted the long stairs to the cargo bay and walked to the spot where a K-loader was positioned with Myers’ transfer case.
The senior officer on the team, Maj. Gen. Del Eulberg, the Air Force’s civil engineer, was joined by Col. Dave Horton and Maj. Klavens Noel, a chaplain, at the cargo bay door. The chaplain offered a brief prayer.
The team then raised the case and positioned it at the end of the K-loader, which descended slowly to the tarmac. The team then slowly bore the case to a white panel truck and loaded it inside.
The van then was driven off with an escort to the mortuary area. The ceremony was marked by silence, except for two orders from an officer.
Campbell, the chair of the Gold Star Families, said she believes that Sunday’s recognition of the significance of Myers’ sacrifice is important.
“I really do believe, when people know that other people care and remember, it does bring them some comfort,” she said. “Their loss will always be there, but it’s always comforting to know that others are not forgetting the sacrifice.”
Begleiter, who has said he launched his FOIA effort with the National Security Archive in 2004 to restore the return ceremonies at Dover to a rightful place of honor, had this to say Sunday: “This is an important victory for the American people to be able to honor their returning servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Myers was dedicated to his airmen, father says
The Associated Press
When Phillip A. Myers decided to join the Air Force, his father didn’t expect him to choose bomb technician as his specialty.
“That was the biggest thing that surprised me,” said his father, Eddie. The younger Myers half-jokingly told his father that he took on the job because it paid more, but he wound up loving the work.
“If there’s anything we can find comfort in, it’s knowing that he died doing what he loved to do,” his father said. “That is without a doubt. He was just so enthused about it.”
Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Va., died April 4 near Helmand province of wounds suffered from an explosive. He was assigned to Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom.
Eddie Myers said his son looked out for the people serving under him.
“If he thought a job was too dangerous, he would get out and check it out himself,” he said. “That might be why we don’t have Phillip here today. But to me, that’s admirable.”
He graduated from high school in 1996 and worked at the Riverside Regional Jail in Hopewell before joining the military.
Phillip also is survived by his wife, Aimee, and their two children, Dakotah, 6, and Kaiden, 3.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Phillip A Myers was killed in action on 4/4/09.
Larger Images
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Phillip A Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Va.
TSgt. Myers was assigned to the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron, Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom; died April 4, 2009 near Helmand province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device.
Family permitted media at Dover arrival
By Beth Miller
The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal / Gannett News Service
DOVER, Del. — The service of Air Force Tech. Sgt. Phillip A. Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Va., was not finished when he died Saturday in Afghanistan of injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device.
Late Sunday night, the arrival of Myers’ body at Dover Air Force Base in a flag-draped transfer case became a powerful reminder to his nation and the world of the sacrifices made by members of the armed forces and the high cost of war.
His return also marked an early watershed in the administration of President Barack Obama, a nod in favor of transparency and away from secrecy favored by prior administrations.
Thousands of fallen troops have returned to the United States through the military’s primary mortuary at Dover Air Force Base. Their flights are met by an honor guard, by military officers, by a chaplain and other dignitaries. Their remains are afforded the highest respect and precision as they are processed for return to their final destination.
But until Sunday night, no news coverage of the returns had been permitted since 1991, when President George H.W. Bush and then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney banned media coverage.
Privacy was cited as the primary reason.
That changed as Myers’ flag-draped transfer case was escorted by an eight-member carry team with crisp, solemn precision to a waiting van from the jet that had carried it from Ramstein, Germany. On Sunday, a few more than two dozen media members quietly snapped pictures, scribbled notes or trained video cameras at the procession shortly after the plane landed at 10:30 p.m.
The casket of an Army soldier was taken down first. That soldier’s family was not asked for permission for media viewing because of time constraints.
“My heart is broken for this family,” said Judy Campbell, chair of Gold Star Families of Delaware, which honors those who have lost a family member in military service. “Their life is changed forever. I hope that having this picture of their loved one returning, that in the years to come it will give them some peace ... some comfort.”
For almost 20 years, that hadn’t been possible. Glimpses of the returns were made available only when the Pentagon released hundreds of its own photos after a 2005 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by University of Delaware professor and former CNN correspondent Ralph Begleiter.
The media ban was lifted last month after Obama ordered a review of the policy. After the review, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates decided coverage would be permitted — but only with the family’s consent.
Obama opened the door to reconsidering the policy in his first prime-time news conference as president in early February. He said he had not decided on the policy and wouldn’t until “I have evaluated that review and understand all the implications involved.”
Vice President Joe Biden in 2004 had urged a change to the policy, when the then-senator told CNN: “This is the last long ride home. These young men and women are heroes. And the idea that they’re essentially snuck back into the country under the cover of night so no one can see that their casket has arrived, I just think is wrong.”
Almost all of the 4,266 casualties in Iraq and the 668 casualties in Afghanistan through the end of March have come through Dover’s mortuary, military officials said earlier this year.
Dover and Pentagon officials could not provide the total number of transfers that have come through Dover, but Air Force spokesman Vince King said in February that 3,867 had come through Dover between May 2004 and May 2008.
Families and military members have been divided on whether the policy should have been changed.
Some agreed with Biden that acknowledging and honoring the fallen troops is an important part of the nation’s ability to better understand the cost of war and the sacrifices made by service members and their families.
Others were concerned that such coverage would be used to advance a political anti-war agenda — as some did in the Vietnam War years — or turn a somber occasion into a “media circus.”
As the window was opened Sunday night to readmit the public to the returns, the procedures put in place by the military were tight and designed to allow the procession to be recorded without allowing media to interfere.
About 30 media members boarded a bus in the Blue Hen Corporate Center at 9 p.m. for transport to the nearby base, then briefed and taken to a restricted area from which they would observe and record.
Each representative signed a set of rules that included a prohibition on taking any images of family members who might be on hand.
No live filming was allowed, nor were “stand-ups,” in which a commentator speaks into a camera as the action unfolds in the backdrop.
The military rules advised media members that “there will be no unnecessary noise or movement during the transfer. Movement required to perform duties should be conducted in a slow and deliberate manner in an effort to not distract from the event.”
Maj. Paul Villagran assumed a new job as director of public affairs for the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center a week ago to prepare for the change in policy, which was to take effect Monday. By Sunday, more than 80 members of the media had registered to be notified of a permitted return.
Villagran said all was devised to protect the family’s privacy and preserve the honor and dignity of the return.
“There is no amount of effort we wouldn’t put forward to provide that care and support,” Villagran said Saturday.
Myers’ widow was the first to be asked about media coverage and granted permission. She was flown into Dover on Sunday night from the RAF base in Lakenheath, England, where Myers had been assigned to the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron.
Myers died Saturday near Helmand province. He was awarded the Bronze Star at a March 19, 2008, ceremony at Lakenheath. He also had won the Air Force-level 2008 Major General Eugene A. Lupia Awards military technician category for significant achievements.
Other family members drove to Dover on Sunday from Virginia. The military paid for all family travel expenses to Dover.
At precisely 11 p.m., a dark blue shuttle bus carrying family members arrived, and an eight-member carry team, all wearing white gloves, marched to the aircraft. They slowly mounted the long stairs to the cargo bay and walked to the spot where a K-loader was positioned with Myers’ transfer case.
The senior officer on the team, Maj. Gen. Del Eulberg, the Air Force’s civil engineer, was joined by Col. Dave Horton and Maj. Klavens Noel, a chaplain, at the cargo bay door. The chaplain offered a brief prayer.
The team then raised the case and positioned it at the end of the K-loader, which descended slowly to the tarmac. The team then slowly bore the case to a white panel truck and loaded it inside.
The van then was driven off with an escort to the mortuary area. The ceremony was marked by silence, except for two orders from an officer.
Campbell, the chair of the Gold Star Families, said she believes that Sunday’s recognition of the significance of Myers’ sacrifice is important.
“I really do believe, when people know that other people care and remember, it does bring them some comfort,” she said. “Their loss will always be there, but it’s always comforting to know that others are not forgetting the sacrifice.”
Begleiter, who has said he launched his FOIA effort with the National Security Archive in 2004 to restore the return ceremonies at Dover to a rightful place of honor, had this to say Sunday: “This is an important victory for the American people to be able to honor their returning servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Myers was dedicated to his airmen, father says
The Associated Press
When Phillip A. Myers decided to join the Air Force, his father didn’t expect him to choose bomb technician as his specialty.
“That was the biggest thing that surprised me,” said his father, Eddie. The younger Myers half-jokingly told his father that he took on the job because it paid more, but he wound up loving the work.
“If there’s anything we can find comfort in, it’s knowing that he died doing what he loved to do,” his father said. “That is without a doubt. He was just so enthused about it.”
Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Va., died April 4 near Helmand province of wounds suffered from an explosive. He was assigned to Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom.
Eddie Myers said his son looked out for the people serving under him.
“If he thought a job was too dangerous, he would get out and check it out himself,” he said. “That might be why we don’t have Phillip here today. But to me, that’s admirable.”
He graduated from high school in 1996 and worked at the Riverside Regional Jail in Hopewell before joining the military.
Phillip also is survived by his wife, Aimee, and their two children, Dakotah, 6, and Kaiden, 3.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Phillip A Myers was killed in action on 4/4/09.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Army Sgt. Daniel J. Beard
Remember Our Heroes
Army Sgt. Daniel J. Beard, 24, of Buffalo, N.Y.
Sgt. Beard was assigned to the 147th Postal Company, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Wiesbaden, Germany; died April 3, 2009 in Al Diwaniyah, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
Commander says Beard was ‘excellent soldier’
The Associated Press
Daniel J. Beard was proud to be in the Army and his family was equally as proud of Beard’s service to the country — he was the family’s first to serve in the military.
“He put his life on the line for all of us,” his sister Deleris Austin said.
Beard, 24, of Buffalo, N.Y., died April 3 in Al Diwaniyah of injuries from a non-combat incident. He was assigned to Wiesbaden, Germany.
Beard had just finished running a few miles and was in line for a weigh-in when he collapsed, his family said. Officials tried to revive Beard, but they were unsuccessful.
“Beard was an excellent soldier,” said his commander, Capt. Ramon Torres. Torres further described Beard as “eager and motivated.”
Born in Buffalo, Sgt. Beard was a 2003 graduate of Seneca Vocational High School and briefly attended Erie Community College before enlisting in February 2005.
He also is survived by his wife, Yolanda.
Beard was expected home on leave in August and planned a vacation in Jamaica before returning for his next tour of duty.
“He always had a smile on his face,” said Austin.
Army Sgt. Daniel J. Beard was killed in a non-combat related incident on 4/3/09.
Army Sgt. Daniel J. Beard, 24, of Buffalo, N.Y.
Sgt. Beard was assigned to the 147th Postal Company, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Wiesbaden, Germany; died April 3, 2009 in Al Diwaniyah, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
Commander says Beard was ‘excellent soldier’
The Associated Press
Daniel J. Beard was proud to be in the Army and his family was equally as proud of Beard’s service to the country — he was the family’s first to serve in the military.
“He put his life on the line for all of us,” his sister Deleris Austin said.
Beard, 24, of Buffalo, N.Y., died April 3 in Al Diwaniyah of injuries from a non-combat incident. He was assigned to Wiesbaden, Germany.
Beard had just finished running a few miles and was in line for a weigh-in when he collapsed, his family said. Officials tried to revive Beard, but they were unsuccessful.
“Beard was an excellent soldier,” said his commander, Capt. Ramon Torres. Torres further described Beard as “eager and motivated.”
Born in Buffalo, Sgt. Beard was a 2003 graduate of Seneca Vocational High School and briefly attended Erie Community College before enlisting in February 2005.
He also is survived by his wife, Yolanda.
Beard was expected home on leave in August and planned a vacation in Jamaica before returning for his next tour of duty.
“He always had a smile on his face,” said Austin.
Army Sgt. Daniel J. Beard was killed in a non-combat related incident on 4/3/09.
Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Dearmon
Remember Our Heroes
Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Dearmon, 21, of Crossville, Tenn.
LCpl. Dearmon was assigned to 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died April 3, 2009 in Taqaddum, Iraq, as a result of a non-hostile incident.
Photographer was promoted last year
The Associated Press
CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — The military says a Marine from East Tennessee has died in a non-hostile incident in Iraq.
The Department of Defense said Wednesday that 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Dearmon of Crossville died April 3 in Anbar province. The military says the incident is under investigation.
He was assigned to 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and was trained as a combat photographer.
Dearmon joined the Marine Corps in August 2007 and joined his current unit in April 2008. He was promoted to lance corporal Oct. 1.
His decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal.
Happiness was important to Dearmon
The Associated Press
Stephen F. Dearmon was known as a true gentleman wherever he was.
“He would open doors for people. If he was at the store he would help elderly people put groceries in their cars. For Stephen that’s how life was supposed to be. He loved people, he loved life, but he hated the evil in the world,” the Rev. David Hayes said.
Dearmon, 21, of Crossville, Tenn., died April 3 after a noncombat incident in Anbar province. He was a combat photographer and was assigned to Camp Lejeune.
Dearmon joined the Marines in August 2007 and was promoted to the rank of lance corporal Oct. 1.
“He was such a loving, caring, goodhearted boy who would give anyone the shirt off his back. You couldn’t ask for a better son. He hung out with his mom like we were best friends. He wasn’t ashamed to go shopping with me or be seen with me anywhere,” said his mother, Robin Hartke.
He also is survived by his stepfather, Steven Hartke, and his father, William Dearmon.
“Stephen didn’t like to see anyone sad. If you were sad, he would have you laughing by the end of the time you were talking with him. He wanted everyone to be happy,” Hayes said.
Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Dearmon died in a non-combat related incident on 4/3/09.
Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Dearmon, 21, of Crossville, Tenn.
LCpl. Dearmon was assigned to 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died April 3, 2009 in Taqaddum, Iraq, as a result of a non-hostile incident.
Photographer was promoted last year
The Associated Press
CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — The military says a Marine from East Tennessee has died in a non-hostile incident in Iraq.
The Department of Defense said Wednesday that 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Dearmon of Crossville died April 3 in Anbar province. The military says the incident is under investigation.
He was assigned to 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and was trained as a combat photographer.
Dearmon joined the Marine Corps in August 2007 and joined his current unit in April 2008. He was promoted to lance corporal Oct. 1.
His decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal.
Happiness was important to Dearmon
The Associated Press
Stephen F. Dearmon was known as a true gentleman wherever he was.
“He would open doors for people. If he was at the store he would help elderly people put groceries in their cars. For Stephen that’s how life was supposed to be. He loved people, he loved life, but he hated the evil in the world,” the Rev. David Hayes said.
Dearmon, 21, of Crossville, Tenn., died April 3 after a noncombat incident in Anbar province. He was a combat photographer and was assigned to Camp Lejeune.
Dearmon joined the Marines in August 2007 and was promoted to the rank of lance corporal Oct. 1.
“He was such a loving, caring, goodhearted boy who would give anyone the shirt off his back. You couldn’t ask for a better son. He hung out with his mom like we were best friends. He wasn’t ashamed to go shopping with me or be seen with me anywhere,” said his mother, Robin Hartke.
He also is survived by his stepfather, Steven Hartke, and his father, William Dearmon.
“Stephen didn’t like to see anyone sad. If you were sad, he would have you laughing by the end of the time you were talking with him. He wanted everyone to be happy,” Hayes said.
Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Dearmon died in a non-combat related incident on 4/3/09.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Marine Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua
Remember Our Heroes
Marine Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua, 20, of Miami
LCpl. Lantigua was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died March 31, 2009 in Taqaddum, Iraq, as the result of a non-hostile incident.
N.C.-based Marine dies in Iraq
The Associated Press
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — The military says a North Carolina-based Marine has died after a non-hostile incident in Iraq.
The Department of Defense said Thursday that 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua of Miami died on Tuesday in Anbar province. Officials said the incident is under investigation, but no details have been released.
Lantigua was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10 Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune.
Followed cousin’s example in joining Corps
The Associated Press
Nelson M. Lantigua was the only child of a single mother who gave birth to him when she was 13 years old in Santiago, Dominican Republic. His mother, Maria Lantigua, struggled for years to bring her son to the United States. She finally succeeded in time for him to attend high school. Aunts, uncles and his grandmother stepped in to fill the familial gap in the United States, cooperatively raising Lantigua.
“Here, he learned to differentiate the good path from the wrong path. He grew as a person,” Rafael Lugo said of his son-in-law.
Lantigua, 20, of Miami, died March 31 of wounds suffered from a noncombat incident in Anbar province. He was assigned to Camp Lejeune.
After spending a few years in the United States, Lantigua longed to return to the Dominican Republic and raise a family.
But first he followed the example of his older cousin, Francisco Arturo Santos, who had joined the Marines. The family disapproved of his decision but relented when he told them he felt a need to serve his adoptive country.
He also is survived by his wife, Rossana.
Marine Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua was killed in a non-combat related incident on 3/31/09.
Marine Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua, 20, of Miami
LCpl. Lantigua was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died March 31, 2009 in Taqaddum, Iraq, as the result of a non-hostile incident.
N.C.-based Marine dies in Iraq
The Associated Press
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — The military says a North Carolina-based Marine has died after a non-hostile incident in Iraq.
The Department of Defense said Thursday that 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua of Miami died on Tuesday in Anbar province. Officials said the incident is under investigation, but no details have been released.
Lantigua was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10 Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune.
Followed cousin’s example in joining Corps
The Associated Press
Nelson M. Lantigua was the only child of a single mother who gave birth to him when she was 13 years old in Santiago, Dominican Republic. His mother, Maria Lantigua, struggled for years to bring her son to the United States. She finally succeeded in time for him to attend high school. Aunts, uncles and his grandmother stepped in to fill the familial gap in the United States, cooperatively raising Lantigua.
“Here, he learned to differentiate the good path from the wrong path. He grew as a person,” Rafael Lugo said of his son-in-law.
Lantigua, 20, of Miami, died March 31 of wounds suffered from a noncombat incident in Anbar province. He was assigned to Camp Lejeune.
After spending a few years in the United States, Lantigua longed to return to the Dominican Republic and raise a family.
But first he followed the example of his older cousin, Francisco Arturo Santos, who had joined the Marines. The family disapproved of his decision but relented when he told them he felt a need to serve his adoptive country.
He also is survived by his wife, Rossana.
Marine Lance Cpl. Nelson M. Lantigua was killed in a non-combat related incident on 3/31/09.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Navy Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV
Remember Our Heroes
Navy Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV, 26, of Narragansett, R.I.
assigned to Combined Security Transition Command — Afghanistan at Camp Shaheen, Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan. He died March 27, 2009 when an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire on personnel. Also killed was Navy Lt. Florence B. Choe.
Afghan soldier’s slaying of 2 officers stuns base
By Andrew Tilghman
Staff writer
Lt. j.g. Francis “Frankie” Toner and Lt. Florence Bacong Choe were taking a Friday afternoon jog along a well-worn path on the outskirts of Forward Operating Base Shaheen in Afghanistan.
Then an Afghan Army soldier raised his military-issued weapon and fatally shot the two officers. A third Navy officer was also wounded in the shootings, said Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a spokeswoman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.
The Afghan soldier fatally shot himself moments after the killings, Mathias said.
The shooting stunned the sailors and soldiers living on the base, who are there to “mentor” the Afghan troops.
“I really hope that this incident doesn’t just pass as two more service members killed in Afghanistan. I want everyone to know how they died and why,” said Lt. Michael Lucrezio, a medical service corps officer assigned to the base.
“The simple fact is that they were murdered in cold blood. The guy who shot them wasn’t some random bad guy who snuck on base wearing a stolen uniform; he was an army soldier who had been vetted through the [Afghan National Army] recruiting process and trained to their basic standards,” Lucrezio said in an e-mail to Navy Times after the shooting.
Afghan officials expressed condolences for the deaths. Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak said he was “saddened and deeply regretful this tragedy occurred,” and that the incident was under investigation, according to a military press release.
Meanwhile, back at home, a Navy chaplain and senior chief knocked on the door at the Toner’s family home in Rhode Island to relay news of the 26-year-old Seabee’s death.
“The irony is that he loved those people,” Sharon Toner, the officer’s stepmother, said of Toner in an interview. “His heart just went out to the children over there because they weren’t in school and they didn’t have shoes. The poverty over there really hit him hard.”
Toner’s family had expected him home for leave the following week, his stepmother said.
Toner was assigned to Naval Facility Hawaii at Pearl Harbor, where he lived with his wife, Brooke. He was on a one-year deployment to Afghanistan to help oversee reconstruction projects in an area north of the capital.
Choe, 35, was a medical service corps officer assigned to Naval Medical Center in San Diego, where she lived with her husband, Lt. Cmdr. Chong “Jay” Choe, a urology resident at the hospital, and their 3-year-old daughter, according to a statement from the hospital.
She was born at the same hospital while her father was a career sailor, said Sonja Hanson, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
Choe contacted a Navy recruiter just days after Sept. 11, 2001, Hanson said. She also was on a one-year deployment in Afghanistan, where she helped run the medical station that served U.S. troops as well as Afghan troops and civilians, Mathias said.
Choe’s family declined requests for an interview, Hanson said.
The Toner family is planning a memorial service at the Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island, N.Y., where Toner earned his bachelor’s degree in 2006, his stepmother said.
Toner was voted prom king at his high school and played football in college, his family said. He sought a Navy career immediately after his graduation.
“He was going to do a full 20 years. His long-term goal was to someday work at the Pentagon. He loved, loved the Navy, loved the Seabees and he never had any thoughts about doing anything else,” his stepmother said.
Sharon Toner said her stepson’s death was a “freak event.”
“I don’t see that as a reflection on the Afghan people. In America we have people right here — you read it in the newspaper every day, people murdering other people and doing things like that. That doesn’t reflect on the society as a whole,” she said.
Flags to be flown at half-staff for slain sailor
The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Gov. Don Carcieri has ordered U.S. and state flags flown at half-staff in honor of a sailor from Rhode Island who was killed in Afghanistan last week.
The Defense Department says Lt. j.g. Francis Toner and another sailor were fatally shot by an Afghan National Army soldier who opened fire at Camp Shaheen in northern Afghanistan.
The 26-year-old Narragansett man served as a garrison engineer. His family tells the Providence Journal that Toner taught young Afghans how to play softball and would ask family members back home to send clothes and shoes for the poorest children.
Toner attended the Merchant Marine Academy and shook hands with President George W. Bush at the graduation ceremony in 2006.
Flags will remain at half-staff until Toner is laid to rest.
Pearl Harbor community remembers Toner
By Eloise Aguiar
Honolulu Advertiser
A Pearl Harbor-based naval officer assigned to help train the Afghan military was fatally shot March 27 by an Afghan National Army soldier, the Pentagon said.
Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV, 26, of Narragansett, R.I., was one of two U.S. sailors killed by the soldier, who opened fire on personnel assigned to Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan at Camp Shaheen in Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan.
Also killed was Navy Lt. Florence B. Choe, 35, of El Cajon, Calif., the Pentagon said.
Toner was born in Rhode Island and his family moved to Westlake Village, Calif., a Los Angeles suburb. The 2001 graduate of Westlake High School was a star running back for the school’s championship football team as well as homecoming king.
After high school he was recruited to play football at the Merchant Marine Academy, where he earned a degree in Marine Engineering and Shipyard Management. He became a Navy officer in 2006.
He was deployed in October to Afghanistan, where he tried to teach soldiers and children how to play softball, a relative said.
“He’d send us these videos and it was kind of funny because they thought you were supposed to hit people with the ball,” his aunt, Linda Moosekian, told the Ventura County (Calif.) Star.
Toner had been scheduled to be back on the mainland for leave with his wife, Brooke, tomorrow, said Dale Glenn, bishop for the Kailua 3rd Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Toner and his wife had been members of the church since they arrived in Kailua in 2006. The announcement of Toner’s death at Sunday church service devastated the congregation, Glenn said.
“He sacrificed for others, not just in his death,” Glenn said. “He was the guy, especially in our church ... who was always there.”
Toner never turned down a request for help and would provide his truck for moves, cook at church barbecues and organize sports for the kids, Glenn said.
Toner and his wife taught Sunday school and the children loved them like they were their parents, the pastor said.
“We saw the kids sneaking out [of church after the announcement] and we found them in the back room crying,” he said.
Toner was commissioned into the Navy in 2006 and entered training at Civil Engineer Corps Officer School, after which he went to Pearl Harbor.
Capt. Bret J. Muilenburg, commander of Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii, said Toner was on a one-year assignment.
“He made a great difference while in Afghanistan just as he did while serving in Hawaii,” Muilenburg said. “Those he touched during his life will never forget his smile, sense of humor, competitive spirit, outstanding work ethic and love of country.”
The military refuted initial reports that the sailors were killed by an insurgent wearing an Afghan army uniform.
“He was not killed by an insurgent as the initial press release has stated. He was killed by an Afghanistan army personnel,” said Denise Emsley, spokeswoman for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii.
The incident is under investigation. Emsley said all Afghan army recruits are vetted prior to joining.
In addition to his wife, his survivors include his father and stepmother, Frank and Sharon Toner; his mother, Becky Toner; a sister, Amanda; and brothers, John and Michael.
Navy Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV was killed in action on 3/27/09.
Navy Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV, 26, of Narragansett, R.I.
assigned to Combined Security Transition Command — Afghanistan at Camp Shaheen, Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan. He died March 27, 2009 when an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire on personnel. Also killed was Navy Lt. Florence B. Choe.
Afghan soldier’s slaying of 2 officers stuns base
By Andrew Tilghman
Staff writer
Lt. j.g. Francis “Frankie” Toner and Lt. Florence Bacong Choe were taking a Friday afternoon jog along a well-worn path on the outskirts of Forward Operating Base Shaheen in Afghanistan.
Then an Afghan Army soldier raised his military-issued weapon and fatally shot the two officers. A third Navy officer was also wounded in the shootings, said Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a spokeswoman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.
The Afghan soldier fatally shot himself moments after the killings, Mathias said.
The shooting stunned the sailors and soldiers living on the base, who are there to “mentor” the Afghan troops.
“I really hope that this incident doesn’t just pass as two more service members killed in Afghanistan. I want everyone to know how they died and why,” said Lt. Michael Lucrezio, a medical service corps officer assigned to the base.
“The simple fact is that they were murdered in cold blood. The guy who shot them wasn’t some random bad guy who snuck on base wearing a stolen uniform; he was an army soldier who had been vetted through the [Afghan National Army] recruiting process and trained to their basic standards,” Lucrezio said in an e-mail to Navy Times after the shooting.
Afghan officials expressed condolences for the deaths. Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak said he was “saddened and deeply regretful this tragedy occurred,” and that the incident was under investigation, according to a military press release.
Meanwhile, back at home, a Navy chaplain and senior chief knocked on the door at the Toner’s family home in Rhode Island to relay news of the 26-year-old Seabee’s death.
“The irony is that he loved those people,” Sharon Toner, the officer’s stepmother, said of Toner in an interview. “His heart just went out to the children over there because they weren’t in school and they didn’t have shoes. The poverty over there really hit him hard.”
Toner’s family had expected him home for leave the following week, his stepmother said.
Toner was assigned to Naval Facility Hawaii at Pearl Harbor, where he lived with his wife, Brooke. He was on a one-year deployment to Afghanistan to help oversee reconstruction projects in an area north of the capital.
Choe, 35, was a medical service corps officer assigned to Naval Medical Center in San Diego, where she lived with her husband, Lt. Cmdr. Chong “Jay” Choe, a urology resident at the hospital, and their 3-year-old daughter, according to a statement from the hospital.
She was born at the same hospital while her father was a career sailor, said Sonja Hanson, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
Choe contacted a Navy recruiter just days after Sept. 11, 2001, Hanson said. She also was on a one-year deployment in Afghanistan, where she helped run the medical station that served U.S. troops as well as Afghan troops and civilians, Mathias said.
Choe’s family declined requests for an interview, Hanson said.
The Toner family is planning a memorial service at the Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island, N.Y., where Toner earned his bachelor’s degree in 2006, his stepmother said.
Toner was voted prom king at his high school and played football in college, his family said. He sought a Navy career immediately after his graduation.
“He was going to do a full 20 years. His long-term goal was to someday work at the Pentagon. He loved, loved the Navy, loved the Seabees and he never had any thoughts about doing anything else,” his stepmother said.
Sharon Toner said her stepson’s death was a “freak event.”
“I don’t see that as a reflection on the Afghan people. In America we have people right here — you read it in the newspaper every day, people murdering other people and doing things like that. That doesn’t reflect on the society as a whole,” she said.
Flags to be flown at half-staff for slain sailor
The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Gov. Don Carcieri has ordered U.S. and state flags flown at half-staff in honor of a sailor from Rhode Island who was killed in Afghanistan last week.
The Defense Department says Lt. j.g. Francis Toner and another sailor were fatally shot by an Afghan National Army soldier who opened fire at Camp Shaheen in northern Afghanistan.
The 26-year-old Narragansett man served as a garrison engineer. His family tells the Providence Journal that Toner taught young Afghans how to play softball and would ask family members back home to send clothes and shoes for the poorest children.
Toner attended the Merchant Marine Academy and shook hands with President George W. Bush at the graduation ceremony in 2006.
Flags will remain at half-staff until Toner is laid to rest.
Pearl Harbor community remembers Toner
By Eloise Aguiar
Honolulu Advertiser
A Pearl Harbor-based naval officer assigned to help train the Afghan military was fatally shot March 27 by an Afghan National Army soldier, the Pentagon said.
Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV, 26, of Narragansett, R.I., was one of two U.S. sailors killed by the soldier, who opened fire on personnel assigned to Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan at Camp Shaheen in Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan.
Also killed was Navy Lt. Florence B. Choe, 35, of El Cajon, Calif., the Pentagon said.
Toner was born in Rhode Island and his family moved to Westlake Village, Calif., a Los Angeles suburb. The 2001 graduate of Westlake High School was a star running back for the school’s championship football team as well as homecoming king.
After high school he was recruited to play football at the Merchant Marine Academy, where he earned a degree in Marine Engineering and Shipyard Management. He became a Navy officer in 2006.
He was deployed in October to Afghanistan, where he tried to teach soldiers and children how to play softball, a relative said.
“He’d send us these videos and it was kind of funny because they thought you were supposed to hit people with the ball,” his aunt, Linda Moosekian, told the Ventura County (Calif.) Star.
Toner had been scheduled to be back on the mainland for leave with his wife, Brooke, tomorrow, said Dale Glenn, bishop for the Kailua 3rd Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Toner and his wife had been members of the church since they arrived in Kailua in 2006. The announcement of Toner’s death at Sunday church service devastated the congregation, Glenn said.
“He sacrificed for others, not just in his death,” Glenn said. “He was the guy, especially in our church ... who was always there.”
Toner never turned down a request for help and would provide his truck for moves, cook at church barbecues and organize sports for the kids, Glenn said.
Toner and his wife taught Sunday school and the children loved them like they were their parents, the pastor said.
“We saw the kids sneaking out [of church after the announcement] and we found them in the back room crying,” he said.
Toner was commissioned into the Navy in 2006 and entered training at Civil Engineer Corps Officer School, after which he went to Pearl Harbor.
Capt. Bret J. Muilenburg, commander of Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii, said Toner was on a one-year assignment.
“He made a great difference while in Afghanistan just as he did while serving in Hawaii,” Muilenburg said. “Those he touched during his life will never forget his smile, sense of humor, competitive spirit, outstanding work ethic and love of country.”
The military refuted initial reports that the sailors were killed by an insurgent wearing an Afghan army uniform.
“He was not killed by an insurgent as the initial press release has stated. He was killed by an Afghanistan army personnel,” said Denise Emsley, spokeswoman for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii.
The incident is under investigation. Emsley said all Afghan army recruits are vetted prior to joining.
In addition to his wife, his survivors include his father and stepmother, Frank and Sharon Toner; his mother, Becky Toner; a sister, Amanda; and brothers, John and Michael.
Navy Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV was killed in action on 3/27/09.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)