Iraq and Afghanistan wars, RIP US Troops - Page 4 - U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum

ViolaLee · #46 (**permalink**) 09-09-2006

Germaine Debro

Quote:

OMAHA (AP) — The Nebraska National Guard said Wednesday that an Omaha soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq was a scout with a Fremont-based Guard unit.

Germaine Debro, 33, was killed just after midnight Monday morning while on patrol near Balad, said a news release from the Guard. It also said Debro had been posthumously promoted to sergeant.

“He was a committed soldier who believed in what he was doing,” said Maj. Gen. Roger Lempke, who commands the Nebraska National Guard as adjutant general for the state.

Two other soldiers with him also were wounded and were being treated in Iraq. Their names and conditions were not released.

Rest in Peace Germaine.

ViolaLee · #47 (**permalink**) 09-09-2006

Hannah Lee McKinney

Quote:

Redlands Daily Facts -- Former Redlands resident Hannah Lee McKinney (also known as Hannah Heavrin), 20, died Monday, Sept. 4, while stationed with the U.S. Army in Taji, Iraq.
An Army Private First Class, McKinney was assigned to the 542nd Maintenance Company, 44th Corps Support Battalion in Fort Lewis, Wash.

Reports from the U.S. Department of Defense said that McKinney died due to a "non-hostile incident." The "incident," according to McKinney's mother Barbie Heavrin,

occurred while McKinney was walking from the guard post, where she was stationed, to the latrine.

Somewhere between the post and the latrine, McKinney was hit and run over by a Humvee.

A beautiful woman killed in a horrible accident. Rest in Peace Hannah.

ViolaLee · #48 (**permalink**) 09-10-2006

Jeremy Shank

Quote:

Missourian.com -- It's evident U.S. Army Pfc. Jeremy Shank's family was proud of their son and brother by a sign that hangs from the front window of their Jackson home.
"I love my son Pfc. Shank," the yellow ribbon sign reads.

Jeremy Shank was the son of Jim and Debbie Shank of Jackson. On Thursday, a family friend said that Jim Shank was not ready to speak to the media.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander has ordered American flags on all city properties to be flown at half-staff until after Shank's funeral, which has not been announced.

A yellow bow, offering support for troops serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, is tied around a tree in the front yard. And a blue Dodge truck, which a neighbor said was Jeremy Shank's, has a magnet on the back that reads, "Pray for our troops."

Shank, 18, of Jackson was killed early Wednesday morning local time. His brother, Chris Shank, confirmed on Wednesday that Jeremy Shank was in the Army's 25th Infantry Division.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Pfc. Jeremy R. Shank, 18, of Jackson, Mo., died on Wednesday in Balad, Iraq, 150 miles north of Baghdad, of injuries suffered in Hawijah, Iraq, when he encountered enemy forces using small arms fire during a dismounted security patrol. Shank was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Rest in Peace Jeremy.

ViolaLee · #49 (**permalink**) 09-10-2006

Vincent M Frassetto

Quote:

2006-09-07 Pfc Vincent M Frassetto 21 of Toms River NJ, 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force Marine Frassetto died Sept. 7 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.

Rest in peace Vincent.

ViolaLee · #50 (**permalink**) 09-16-2006

John A. Carroll

Quote:

Centre Daily -- PONCA CITY, Okla. - An Army soldier from Pittsburgh who died in Iraq last week signed up for the military in Oklahoma years ago while he was drifting through a number of states, his mother said Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Defense said Sgt. John A. Carroll, 26, died Wednesday in Ramadi from small arms fire during a dismounted security patrol.

Maj. Wayne Marotto, with the 1st Armored Division in Wiesbaden, Germany, said Carroll and the other members of his unit were providing security and searching for enemy fighters and weapons.

"They're looking for the bad guys, that's for sure," said Marotto, who described the Ramadi area as lawless. "They've gotten into some pretty tough fighting there."

Carroll died after being shot in the leg, Marotto said.

Carroll's mother, Dawn Petrakovitz of Pittsburgh, said her son was a Pittsburgh native who left the East Coast after high school to find work in the late 1990s and traveled through several states, including Oklahoma. He enlisted in Ponca City.

Rest in peace John.

ViolaLee · #51 (**permalink**) 09-16-2006

Lee Darren Thornton

Quote:

Blackpool Today -- Gunner Lee Thornton, from Marton, was part of a 20-strong patrol training Iraqi troops north of Basra, when he came under attack.

The 22-year-old suffered a fatal gunshot wound.

Gunner Thornton was airlifted to a British army base in Germany following last Tuesday's attack. He died two days later surrounded by his family.

Speaking to The Gazette from Basra, Captain Laurence Roche, spokesman for the 20th artillery battery, said the body of the former Palatine High school pupil was due to be flown back to the UK in the next week.

He added the soldiers serving in the 58 (Eyres) Battery, 12th Regiment Royal Artillery, who had been involved in the fatal ambush were coping "remarkably well under the circumstances".

Cpt Roche said: "Gunner Thornton had volunteered to go on the patrol the day after two of his colleagues were killed in another ambush. He was that kind of soldier.

Rest in peace Lee.

ViolaLee · #52 (**permalink**) 09-16-2006

Luis A. Montes

Quote:

The Associated Press -- SAN ANTONIO - A soldier assigned to Fort Hood has died of injuries he sustained during combat operations in Iraq, the Army said Monday.

Sgt. Luis A. Montes, 22, of El Centro, Calif., died Thursday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

Montes was injured Sept. 1 in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood.

Rest in peace Luis.

ViolaLee · #53 (**permalink**) 09-16-2006

Vincent Michael Frassetto

Quote:

Asbury & Park Press -- DOVER TOWNSHIP — Terri Frassetto has had trouble sleeping since her two sons, Pfc. Vincent Michael Frassetto, 21, and Sgt. John P. Frassetto, 25, began their tours of duty with the Marine Corps in Iraq last month.

She awoke on her couch at 2:53 a.m. Thursday, a minute or so before the door bell rang.

In a few moments she would learn her son Vincent was killed by an "improvised explosive device" while riding in a vehicle in Al Anbar province at 1:20 a.m. Thursday Iraqi time.

Through the etched glass in the door, Terri Frassetto could see, standing in the porch light, two men in dark blue uniforms and white caps.

She opened the door of the Silverton home.

"One said to me, "Can we come in?' And I said, "Is it bad?' And he said, "Yes ma'am,' " Terri Frassetto said.

She got her husband, John Frassetto, from upstairs. The Marine officer read a statement, which started, "On behalf of the United States Marine Corps," and then it seemed like an eternity before the officer said the name of the son who was the subject of the bad news.

Rest in peace Vincent.

ViolaLee · #54 (**permalink**) 09-16-2006

Sgt David W Gordon

2006-09-08 Sgt David W Gordon was 23 from Williamsfield, OH. 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Army.

Gordon died on Sept. 8, in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations.

Rest in Peace Gordon.

ViolaLee · #55 (**permalink**) 09-16-2006

Anthony P. Seig

Quote:

Indianapolis Star -- Pfc. Anthony P. Seig would have marked his 20th birthday next week. Instead, the 2005 graduate of East Central High School in St. Leon, Ind., died in Iraq without making it out of his teens.

Monday, his family in Sunman, Ind., about 30 miles west of Cincinnati, gathered with friends to install a flag pole in the front yard. In the cement base, they inscribed his birth date and the day he died -- Saturday -- before hoisting an American flag to half-staff.
"He's certainly our hero,'' said his aunt, Vicki Jenkins. "He was very proud to serve his country. He felt very strongly about serving his country.''
Seig joined the Army shortly after graduating from high school and left for Iraq June 24. He recently had spoken to his girlfriend and the two had talked about marriage.
"It was a happy conversation," his mother, Linda Seig, said Monday.
"He took great pride in being an MP," she said. "He felt like what he was doing was important and it mattered."

Seig was assigned to the 16th Military Police Brigade, based at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Called Tony by his family and friends, the high school football player was bright, quick-witted and had a gift for telling and writing stories, his aunt said.
For now, the family is in disbelief, still awaiting details of Seig's death from military officials.
When he enlisted last year, her nephew knew the odds were high he would be deployed to a war zone, in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"He said he wanted to be one of the good guys, and he wanted to protect us," she said. "A lot of times, we take our freedom for granted, but he was protecting us."
Seig was the 69th person with Indiana ties to die after being sent to the Mideast since the buildup for the invasion of Iraq began in 2003.

Rest in peace Anthony.

Hellfigger · #56 (**permalink**) 09-16-2006

I agree

Rest in peace.

ViolaLee · #57 (**permalink**) 09-17-2006

Johnathan Benson

Quote:

St Paul Pioneer Press -- Cpl. Johnathan Benson, of North Branch, lay in his Texas Army hospital bed, his left leg gone, most of his left arm, too, from midway between his elbow and shoulder.

The 21-year-old Marine had been wounded by a roadside bomb June 17 during his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was in rough shape and feeling down one day, uncharacteristic for the usually upbeat young man, his family said.

One of his superiors visiting him that day asked him, "John, are you still a Marine?"

"Sir! Yes, sir! I will always be a Marine!" he responded. "I will live as a Marine, and I will die as a Marine!"

His mother, Marjorie Benson, recalled that scene Sunday as she and her husband, Steve, reminisced about their son. Johnathan Benson, the youngest of their six children, died from his wounds Saturday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

His family is making arrangements to bring his body home later this week for burial in his hometown, where friends and family remember an enthusiastic young man with an infectious smile, a prankster's heart and a love for adventure.

"We're extremely proud of him," Marjorie Benson said from the Army hospital residence Sunday night. "He's our hero, he's North Branch's hero, he's Minnesota's hero, and he's the world's hero."

Benson, who served with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, was injured nearly three months ago when a bomb exploded under his vehicle near Habbaniyah. He lost his left leg and part of his left arm and was paralyzed from the waist down, according to the CaringBridge Web site created for him. After he was hospitalized, Benson had a stroke on both sides of his brain.

He was awarded a Purple Heart, which was pinned on him by a Marine commandant while he was at the hospital.

Rest in peace Johnathan

ViolaLee · #58 (**permalink**) 09-17-2006

Alexander Jordan

Quote:

Miami Herald -- After the 9/11 attacks, Alexander Jordan's childhood fears of his mother, a flight attendant, dying in a plane crash resurfaced.

Jordan enlisted in the U.S. Army as a way to fight back, to protect his family and safeguard America.

On Sunday, almost five years to the day since the attacks and three years into his military service, the 31-year-old from Palmetto Bay was killed by enemy fire in Baghdad.

''He knew he wanted to make a difference, and he knew he could,'' Jordan's mother, Candace Jordan, said Tuesday night, her home filled with bouquets of sympathy flowers. ``He was such an incredible human being.''

Spc. Alexander Jordan had been deployed to Iraq with his unit from Fort Richardson, Alaska, since July 2005. It was supposed to be a one-year tour, patrolling areas near Mosul.

Last month, a few days before Jordan's family expected him home, he e-mailed his mom to say he was being sent to Baghdad for a four-month extension.

''That was my worst fear, him going to Baghdad,'' Candace Jordan said.

Rest in peace Alexander.

ViolaLee · #59 (**permalink**) 09-17-2006

Matthew Mattingly

Quote:

Columbus Dispatch -- Only two months ago, Army Capt. Matthew Mattingly had gotten engaged. Mattingly, who was making a career of the Army, had already served in Bosnia and Iraq, and he was about to be sent back to Iraq a second time.

But the wedding will never take place.

Mattingly, who grew up in Reynoldsburg, died Wednesday during combat in Mosul, Iraq, when gunfire hit the OH-58 Kiowa reconnaissance helicopter he was in, the Department of Defense said yesterday. The 30-year-old paratrooper had commanded Troop A of the 1 st squadron, 17 th Cavalry Regiment of the 82 nd Airborne Division.

Family members were in mourning last evening, including his father, Dennis Mattingly, who now lives in Beavercreek, Ohio.

Rest in peace Matthew.

ViolaLee · #60 (**permalink**) 09-17-2006

David T. Weir

Quote:

Herald Leader -- CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Just hours before Army Sgt. David T. Weir was killed in Baghdad, he told his brother in a telephone call that he was in the crossfire of mortars not aimed at him, his brother said Friday.

"He called us pretty frequently," said Chris Weir, one of the slain soldier's five siblings. "He was saying we are just kind of stuck in the middle .... Somebody threw mortars over them and then mortars came back, over the top of them. He said they weren't targeting them. That was his words."

Weir was trained to be a forward observer, calling in fire from air support to protect troops in combat, but his mission recently was more of a policing role, his brother said in a telephone interview from the family's home in Cleveland.

He said Army officials had not yet provided all details about the death of his brother, a member of the 101st Airborne Division. He said they told him the telephone conversation was about four hours before the soldier was killed.

"All we know is they were a dismounted patrol doing security sweeps. He was shot. That's all we know," Chris Weir said as family friends continued to stop by to offer condolences.

Rest in peace David.

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