Showing posts with label fallen soldier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fallen soldier. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

23-Year-Old Was Last US Soldier Killed in Iraq

23-Year-Old Was Last US Soldier Killed in Iraq

December 19, 2011
Associated Press
by Tom Breen and Don Babwin
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- As the last U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on Sunday, friends and family of the first and last American fighters killed in combat were cherishing their memories rather than dwelling on whether the war and their sacrifice was worth it.

Nearly 4,500 American fighters died before the last U.S. troops crossed the border into Kuwait.

David Hickman, 23, of Greensboro was the last of those war casualties, killed in November by the kind of improvised bomb that was a signature weapon of this war.

"David Emanuel Hickman. Doesn't that name just bring out a smile to your face?" said Logan Trainum, one of Hickman's closest friends, at the funeral where the soldier was laid to rest after a ceremony in a Greensboro church packed with friends and family.
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One military family, two fallen sons and one with PTSD

When I put up the post For Those I Love I Will Sacrifice

I had no idea how hard it would hit people. "Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, of 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Infantry Regiment, 1st Heavy Combat Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, who was injured in an improvised explosive device attack near Haji Ramuddin, is treated by flight medic Cpl. Amanda Mosher while being transported by medevac helicopter to the Role 3 hospital at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan on June 15, 2011. Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes" 28,315 read it and Time Magazine did a follow up to Hockenberry's story. There were a lot of pictures taken at the combat hospital in Afghanistan, but this one seemed to express what is really going on. The men and women serving the country put their lives on the line everyday but in the end, when the truth is told, they are willing to die for each other. They don't do it for a politician or a political cause or religious ideology. While all these things may factor in their enlisting into the military, while they are deployed, the men and women they serve with are all that matters to them.

Here is another story about love and sacrifice.

Jared Hubbard and Jeremiah Baro were friends in high school and they served together. On their second tour in Iraq, they died together. The families had the funeral for them together and they were buried together.

Jared's two brothers joined the military right after the funeral. Nathan was killed in a helicopter crash and brother Jason ended up bringing the war home trapped inside of him by PTSD.

This one family gave so much that when I read so many opinions on the worthiness of invading Iraq, opinions don't seem to matter when the people talking never knew what it was like to send a family member or serve where they did.

Wars begin and end. Politicians come and go. What has remained since this nation began is the willingness of the few to sacrifice their lives for a cause greater than themselves.



As war ends, Clovis family searches for closure
Monday, December 19, 2011

by Mike Cerre
CLOVIS, Calif. -- U.S. forces completed their withdrawal from Iraq over the weekend, and most of the troops will be home stateside by Christmas. Reporter Mike Cerre, who's covered the Iraq war for ABC7 News over the years, re-visits a family in the Central Valley, as it searches for closure.

While watching our first embedded reports from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard's family back home in Clovis, CA had very mixed emotions.

"There was an excitement that was kind of positive along with the anxiety of what could happen," Jeff Hubbard said.

His son Jared was one of the first Americans to cross into Iraq that night and into Baghdad less than a month later to a generally positive reception by Iraqis.

His unit, Second Battalion, 5th Marine unit was one of the first combat units to come home that same summer when the much of the country thought the war was winding down.

"I really think I was more realistic than the rest of the country how long it would take but still didn't think it would take this long," Jeff said.

Jared Hubbard and his high school teammate Jeremiah Baro went back with for a second tour of duty in 2004 with Second Battalion, 5th Marines as a sniper team.

They were killed together in an ambush in Ramadi, the capital of the Sunni Triangle.

Nathan and thirteen other soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash outside of Baghdad in 2007.

For the Hubbard family, the emotional rollercoaster ride that was their war in Iraq continues with Jason, their only surviving son. He was discharged from the Army and is being treated for PTSD.
read more here

Friday, December 9, 2011

Iraq veteran responds after report of remains taken to landfill

Soldiers' Remains Taken To Landfill; Local Iraq War Vet Responds

By: MIKE BOWERSOCK
Published: December 08, 2011

HILLIARD, Ohio --
A local Iraqi war veteran is speaking out after learning that the remains of 274 service personnel killed in action were cremated and taken to a landfill.

"I served in Iraq in 2006 and four of my really good friends were killed and it makes my blood boil to think they may be in a landfill right now," said Daniel Hutchison, an Iraqi war veteran.

Hutchison spent 2006 and 2007 in Iraq and has written a book on his experiences. He also runs Ohio Combat Veterans, an organization based in Hilliard that helps Iraq and Afghanistan veterans transition into civilian life.

There are no reasons, he contends, no excuses, for allowing the remains of any U.S. service member to go to the dump.

"The argument can be made that it is difficult to try to identify all the pieces to bring it back home, but it's difficult to fight in a war," he said.
read more here

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Additional remains sent to landfill, Air Force acknowledges

Additional remains sent to landfill, Air Force acknowledges
By Charley Keyes and Barbara Starr, CNN Senior National Security Team
updated 4:11 PM EST, Thu December 8, 2011

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base handles remains of returning war dead
New Jersey congressman says the Pentagon should have acted faster
An earlier report found mismanagement at the mortuary
Service members' body parts incinerated, buried with medical waste

Washington (CNN) -- The Air Force is admitting Thursday that it sent more sets of military personnel remains to a Virginia landfill than it originally acknowledged.

Backtracking on initial information about how it handled the remains of American service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Air Force now says the cremated body parts of hundreds of the fallen were burned and dumped in the landfill.

Earlier, the Air Force said only a small number of body parts had been buried in a commercial landfill and claimed it would be impossible to make a final determination of how many remains were disposed of in that manner.

The Washington Post broke the story Thursday, and the Air Force now confirms that body fragments linked to at least 274 fallen military personnel sent to the Dover Air Force Base Mortuary were cremated, incinerated and buried with medical waste. That procedure was in place between November 2003 and May 1, 2008. The Air Force also said that 1,762 body parts were never identified and also were disposed of, first by cremation, then by further incineration and then buried in a landfill.
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Soldier’s ‘Avoidable’ Death Spurs Gold Star Dad to Action

Man On a Mission: Soldier’s ‘Avoidable’ Death Spurs Gold Star Dad to Action
BY LEON WORDEN
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7, 2011


Rudy Acosta was a Santa Clarita boy through and through. Born at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, he attended Santa Clarita Christian School and enlisted in the Army as a medic. He wanted to save lives and become a surgeon.

He shipped off to Afghanistan in the summer of 2010. When he came back home for a visit in January, he came back a man.

Two months later he was dead.

He didn’t step on a land mine. He didn’t get shot by a sniper. He didn’t fall in a firefight.

Rudy and his fellow soldiers were back at their base – safely, by all rights, inside the wire.

They were preparing for a mission, cleaning their guns, when an Afghan insurgent masquerading as a protector opened fire on the troops he was hired to guard.

Rudy may have saved one last life as he fell. Reports suggest he may have stepped into a bullet intended for another solider – a woman who credits Rudy for the fact that she is alive today to raise her own family.
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Monday, December 5, 2011

New Video for fallen soldiers

One more in a series of projects done for Valencia College Digital Media. As usual it is about the troops. A friend and classmate volunteered for this along with her boyfriend and her son. Erika was in the Army and her boyfriend Rick just wanted to do something for the troops. The "older son" Richie also jumped at the opportunity to do something for the troops as well. The music is "Dance With My Father" so get ready for some weepy eyes.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Fallen soldier's father dies in car crash

Father of slain soldier dies in crash
12:37 PM, Dec. 3, 2011
WATKINS GLEN — A man killed in a crash Friday was identified today as the father of a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in September.

Kenneth M. Scott, 42, of Tyrone, Schuyler County, was having a medical emergency as he was driving at North Decatur and 8th streets in Watkins Glen at 5 p.m. Friday, police said.

The car went off the road and hit a utility pole, bringing down power lines.

Scott is the father of Army Spc. Christopher J. Scott, who was killed Sept. 3 in Afghanistan
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Friday, December 2, 2011

Iraq detainee accused of killing 5 U.S. soldiers may go free

Iraq detainee accused of killing U.S. soldiers may go free
By Tim Lister, CNN
updated 9:52 PM EST, Wed November 30, 2011

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Case has become a tug-of-war between Iraq and the Obama administration
Ali Mussa Daqduq is accused of involvement in the murder of several U.S. soldiers
Iraq has given no indication it will allow Daqduq, a Lebanese militant, to be taken away
Daqduq accused of setting up kidnapping in Karbala in January 2007 that left five dead

(CNN) -- Ali Mussa Daqduq, a Lebanese militant accused of involvement in the murder of several U.S. soldiers in Iraq, has been in U.S. military detention in Iraq since 2007 -- but likely not for much longer.

As the last U.S. forces depart Iraq, Daqduq may soon go free without facing trial.

The Iraqis have given no indication that they will allow Daqduq to be taken out of the country, and the case has become a tug-of-war between Iraq and the Obama administration.

The prospect that Daqduq -- a veteran operative of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia -- may escape U.S. justice altogether has infuriated members of Congress. And even if the Iraqis agree to let him leave with his captors, just how and where he would face trial is another political minefield for the Justice Department.

Daqduq was accused of organizing a kidnapping in the Iraqi city of Karbala in January 2007 that left five U.S. soldiers dead.

After he was captured some months later, according to U.S. intelligence officials, Daqduq pretended to be a deaf-mute. But officials identified him as a 24-year veteran of Hezbollah who had commanded a special operations unit and been sent to Iraq to develop "Special Groups" within Shiite militia.
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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Lynne Griffey painting to help fund Wreaths Across America

'Wreaths Across America' to benefit from sale of Clarksville artist's painting
Nov. 25, 2011
Written by
Philip Grey
The Leaf-Chronicle
The subject is beautiful in its simplicity — rows of standard military tombstones rising above a blanket of fresh snow at Kentucky West Veterans Cemetery, with only the green and red of Christmas wreaths to mark the stones and keep them from fading into obscurity.

The subject of the painting is perfectly aligned with the artist’s cause — to keep America’s deceased veterans from being forgotten.

The painting has been donated by well-known local artist Lynne Griffey for the purpose of furthering the “Wreaths Across America” program, an effort that is backed in this area by the local Gold Star Wives Eagles chapter, together with the American Legion.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Fallen Soldier's Remains Return To Longwood Florida

Fallen Soldier's Remains Return To Fla.

Funeral Set For Next Wednesday

POSTED: 1:24 pm EST November 18, 2011


ORLANDO, Fla. -- The body of a local soldier who was killed in Afghanistan returned to Central Florida on Friday.

The Department of Defense said 25-year-old Army Pfc. Theodore B. Rushing died on Veterans Day in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

He suffered fatal wounds when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
Rushing was going to follow his father's footsteps and become a police officer, but once he joined the army, he told his dad that he'd found a new career.

"He liked the fact that he was able to give back to his country that had given so much back to him. He liked the fact that he was a Calvary scout, out front paving the way for everybody else," said Rushing's father, Rick Rushing, on Friday.

Members of the Orlando Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff's Office escorted Rushing's remains to the funeral home.
The funeral is scheduled for next Wednesday. A viewing is set for Saturday at the Baldwin Fairchild Funeral Home on Lake Ivanhoe.

read more here

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Two Tour Iraq veteran Sgt. Shane Scott Pease found dead in creek


NEWS
Man found dead in Chapel Hill creek served in Iraq
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2011 (Updated 5:09 am)
By THE HERALD-SUN OF DURHAM
CHAPEL HILL — The man who was found dead in Bolin Creek Saturday morning was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division who served two tours of duty in Iraq.


The Chapel Hill Police Department was mum Monday on an investigation into the death of 24-year-old Sgt. Shane Scott Pease, who was found dead in the creek by a jogger, but in a press release from the 82nd Airborne, Pease was identified as an infantryman in Company A, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team.
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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Matthew Colin's father said son never wavered in his duty in Afghanistan

Family celebrates an 'American soldier': Matthew Colin's father said son never wavered in his duty in Afghanistan (SLIDESHOW)
November 19, 2011 9:47 PM
Lauren Sage Reinlie
Daily News
NAVARRE — The first premonition Ken Colin had of the grief he would soon face was when his four dogs began howling at the window of his home Wednesday night.

He said when he looked out he saw an Army sergeant and a chaplain standing near the doorway.

“I knew exactly what they were here for,” he said. “Our lives just came crashing down on us.”

The men had come to tell him and his wife, Kathy, that their 22-year-old son, Army Pfc. Matthew Colin, had been killed by a roadside bomb while patrolling in Kandahar province in Afghanistan earlier last week.

Matthew Colin had enlisted in the Army just a year and a half before his death.

“Matt loved being in the military,” Ken Colin said at his home in Navarre on Saturday afternoon.

“God placed certain people on this earth to be soldiers, to be warriors, and my son just happened to be one of them.”

read more here

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Longwood soldier killed in Afghanistan on Veterans Day

Longwood soldier killed in Afghanistan


By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
9:08 p.m. EST, November 12, 2011

A Longwood soldier was killed Friday morning in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, by an roadside bomb, the U.S, Department of Defense announced tonight.

He was on foot when he was killed, but the Army provided no further details.

Pfc. Theodore B. Rushing, 25, was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device, the Department of Defense said.

A cavalry scout, he was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment; 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light), Fort Drum, N.Y.
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Saturday, November 12, 2011

Hilton soldier killed in Vietnam finally laid to rest

Hilton soldier killed in Vietnam finally laid to rest
Posted at: 11/12/2011
By: Ted Fioraliso
WHEC.com

His family waited four decades for this day. And Saturday, a soldier from Hilton was finally in his final resting place.

The remains of Army Sgt. David Lemcke were buried next to his parents at a Parma cemetery Saturday -- 43 years after he was listed as missing-in-action in Vietnam.

“We're reminded that life is short, and David did not get his fore score,” said Chaplain Walter Steenson. “David paid the price for our nation in a war our current soldiers only read about.”

Lemcke was declared MIA back in 1968.

“In time, you accepted David's death and wondered if this day would ever come,” said Steenson.

Lemcke’s family had no body to bury, until now. After 43 years, Lemcke's remains were finally flown home to Rochester this week. On Saturday, Lemcke got the sendoff he deserved all those years ago.

“Today is not about the war. It's about those who served our country because they were asked to,” said Lemcke’s cousin, Rick Lemcke.
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Friday, November 11, 2011

Fort Hood shooting victims, families file claims against Army

Fort Hood shooting victims, families file claims against Army

By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO, Texas
Thu Nov 10, 2011 6:31pm EST
(Reuters) - Dozens of relatives of people killed in a November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood -- as well as some of the wounded -- are filing administrative claims against the Army, seeking more than $750 million in total damages.

The lawyer representing the more than 80 claimants said on Thursday that the Army "acted in total disregard" for the safety of soldiers and civilian employees by allowing Major Nidal Hasan -- an Army psychiatrist charged in the killings -- to serve on active duty.

"They enabled him, they put him in a position to commit fratricide, and allowed him to commit the only deadly terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, and they knew all about it," the lawyer, Neil M. Sher of New York City, told Reuters.
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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Fort Campbell Soldier Credited with Saving Platoon Leader’s Life

Fort Campbell Soldier Credited with Saving Platoon Leader’s Life
Tuesday, November 08th, 2011, by Blake Farmer
When an Afghan Border Patrolman turned a gun on American service members a year ago, he killed six soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell. One will receive the Silver Star for Valor on Thursday.

Sergeant 1st Class Barry Jarvis is credited with saving the life of an Army officer. The two were nearby when a rogue border patrolman instantly took out five of their men. They started moving toward the sound of gunfire, according to the award citation.
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Monday, November 7, 2011

On Sunday, Sgt. Chris Newman came home

Hundreds honor Sgt. Christopher Newman (with video)
Sunday, Nov 6 2011

Rebecca Clark

The flag draped casket was slowly lowered from the open door of the plane.

The only sound was the footsteps of the military group as they slowly approached, in careful formation, to take up the heavy burden.

A somber line of more than one hundred men and women stood waiting at the edge of the tarmac, each one holding an American flag until the Shelby-Cleveland County Regional Airport was a sea of Stars and Stripes.

On Sunday, Sgt. Chris Newman came home.

He was welcomed home by around 300 people, including family, members of the community, the Patriot Guard, Honor Guard and local motorcycle groups.

On Oct. 29, Newman, 26, was killed in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.
read more here

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Family, Friends Remember Two Oklahoma Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan

Family, Friends Remember Two Oklahoma Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan
NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OKLAHOMA -- The Department of Defense has confirmed that two more Oklahoma soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

One soldier is identified as Specialist Chris Gailey, 26, from Ochelata, the other as Private First Class Sarina Butcher, 19, of Checotah. They were assigned to the 700th Brigade Support Battalion, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team based in Tulsa.

They died November 1, 2011, when their vehicle was hit by an IED in the Paktia province.
The Guard says the improvised explosive device detonated near their military vehicle while their unit was on a resupply mission.

Two soldiers were also wounded during the incident but are expected to recover from their injuries.

"The Oklahoma National Guard family is deeply saddened by the loss of these two outstanding Citizen-Soldiers," said Major General Myles L. Deering, the adjutant general for Oklahoma.
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Family of fallen soldier not informed of fundraiser

Family of fallen soldier not informed of fundraiser
Updated: Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 3:53 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011, 3:45 PM EDT

MONTICELLO, Ind. (WLFI) - A company, claiming a portion of their proceeds will be donated to a fallen soldier, hadn’t informed the family about what they were going to do.

The Treasure Hunter's Roadshow came into Monticello earlier this week.

The group, based out of Springfield, buys gold and collectables, and then sells those items for a profit.

While in Monticello, the group was advertising that a portion of the profit they make will be donated to the family of Staff Sergeant Kenneth McAninch.

Just a year ago, Staff Sergeant Kenneth McAninch was laid to rest in Logansport, after being killed in action in Afghanistan.
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Friday, October 28, 2011

Carson park named after fallen soldier, dog

Carson park named after fallen soldier, dog
By Dan Elliott - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Oct 28, 2011 14:46:35 EDT
FILE PHOTO Army Cpl. Kory D. Wiens, 20, and his Labrador retriever partner, Cooper, were killed in July 2007 by an improvised explosive device while on patrol in Muhammad Sath, Iraq.

DENVER — An Oregon soldier and his military working dog who were killed together in Iraq were honored Friday when a Colorado Army post named a dog park in their honor.

Cpl. Kory Wiens and the Labrador retriever named Cooper were killed by an improvised bomb while on patrol in 2007. Their ashes were buried together in Wiens’ hometown in Dallas, Ore.

His father, Kevin Wiens Sr., brother Kevin Jr. and sister Lindsay watched as the Cpl. Wiens and Cooper Dog Park was dedicated at Fort Carson, an infantry post just outside Colorado Springs.

Wiens had no formal tie to Fort Carson, but officials there wanted to honor his memory, a spokesman said.

Pat McAlister, Wiens’ grandmother, said the family was moved by the gesture.
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