Army Sgt. Damien T. Ficek

Died December 30, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

26 year old Damien Ficek, of Pullman, Wash.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment, Washington Army National Guard, Spokane, Wash.; killed Dec. 30 when his patrol was attacked by enemy forces using small-arms fire in Baghdad.

Soldier with Oregon, Washington ties killed in Baghdad

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — Sgt. Damien Ficek, an Oregon native and former Washington State University student, was killed while on foot patrol in Baghdad two days before he was to turn 27, the family of the Washington National Guardsman confirms.

A resident of Pullman, Wash., Ficek was killed Dec. 30. He had spent more than a year in Iraq.

“I praise and honor Damien for answering the call of duty, and I salute him for making the ultimate sacrifice in defending our security, our freedoms and our way of life,” Washington Gov. Gary Locke said Monday. “I know how much he will be missed and my heart goes out to his wife and family.”

Ficek was a student at WSU until withdrawing from classes during fall 2003 when his National Guard unit was activated.

“He was an active member of our community and an excellent student,” said WSU President V. Lane Rawlins. “Our deepest sympathy goes to his wife and family and he will be missed.”

Ficek’s name will be added to the veterans memorial on the WSU campus, Rawlins said. A memorial service is planned on the Pullman campus later this month.

Ficek arrived at WSU for fall semester 2002. He was enrolled in the athletic training education program offered through the College of Education.

Ficek was an infantryman assigned to the Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment. A U.S. Department of Defense news release said he died when his patrol was attacked by enemy forces using small-arms fire.

Ficek is survived by his wife Kyla; parents Donna and Danny Vian, of the Portland, Ore., area and Dean and Suzanne Dibble of the Vancouver, Wash., area; and two brothers, Dustin and John.

Brian Lynott, a friend of Ficek’s since middle school, said both of them signed up for military service after graduating from Beaverton, Ore., High School in 1996.

Ficek served with the 2nd Ranger Battalion at Fort Lewis, Wash., until June 2000. In July 2002, he enlisted in the Washington Army National Guard.

In a Dec. 16 e-mail to Lynott, Ficek said he was looking forward to returning home — perhaps as soon as March — and starting a family. But with the Iraqi national election coming up, Ficek said, his tour probably would be extended, Lynott told The Oregonian newspaper.

Concerned that Ficek might not have adequate body armor, Lynott said he and others offered to send him the best protection available.

“We made it clear to him from Day 1 we’d get him whatever he needed,” he said.

Ficek deserved nothing less, say those who knew him.

“The world has lost a very, very promising person in Damien Ficek,” said his aunt, Joani Dufourd, 55, of Bend, Ore. “He was the most incredible man. I don’t know how to tell you that any better.

“He was a giver,” she said. “He was not so much focused on his own destiny but on how he could affect people around him.”

Ficek liked physical action, his friends said. He was on his high school football team and wrestling squad and rode BMX bikes for fun.

And Ficek grew into a smart, dependable soldier.

“They put him in contact with the enemy because he knew what to do,” Lynott said.

Marine Staff Sgt. Jason A. Lehto

Died December 28, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

31 year old Jason Lehto, of Mount Clemens, Mich.; assigned to Marine Wing Support Group 47, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Forces Reserve, Mt. Clemens, Mich.; killed Dec. 28 in a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq.

Macomb County Marine dies in Iraq

Associated Press

WARREN, Mich. — A Marine from the Detroit area has been killed in Iraq’s Anbar province, the military said Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Jason A. Lehto, 31, of Warren died Tuesday in what the Defense Department described as a non-hostile incident.

“We are very sad that he is gone,” Lehto’s sister, Angela Krug of Clinton Township, told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens.

Lehto was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve’s Marine Wing Support Group 47, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, based in Macomb County’s Harrison Township. The military originally identified Lehto as being from Mount Clemens.

Lehto enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Clintondale High School in Clinton Township in 1992. He served on active duty until 1996, when he joined the reserves.

Before leaving for Iraq in August, Lehto worked as a service technician for SBC Communications in Trenton, his family said.

He was trained by the military to defuse anything from a pipe bomb to an atom bomb, said his stepfather, Chuck Walsh.

“He was an outstanding young man who loved his family,” Walsh told The Detroit News for a Thursday story. “He was gung-ho military and gung-ho American.”

The family preferred to keep the details of his death private, but Walsh called it a “total accident” during a routine mission. “Unfortunately something just went off,” he said.

Left behind are Lehto’s wife, Michele Lehto, and sons Nathan, 11, Joseph, 3, and Joshua, 2.

Joseph and Joshua are “too little to comprehend. They have no idea,” Michele Lehto, 31, told the Detroit Free Press as she stood outside the family’s small tan home trimmed with Christmas lights.

The house was the first the Lehtos bought as a married couple. A small swing set sits in the backyard. Above the garage in bold letters is the Marine Corps motto, “Semper Fi.”

Three hours before his death, Lehto and his wife happened to access their e-mail accounts at the same time and exchanged messages. He wrote about a house he had found online that was closer to his job in Trenton.

“He told me he found the perfect house for us to move into when he got home” in March, Michele Lehto said.

Army Staff Sgt. Todd D. Olson

Died December 27, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

36 year old Todd Olson, of Loyal, Wis.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment, Wisconsin Army National Guard, Neillsville, Wis.; died Dec. 27 in the 67th Combat Support Hospital in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds sustained on Dec. 26 when an improvised explosive device detonated in Samarra, Iraq.

Wisconsin soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

LOYAL, Wis. — A Wisconsin National Guardsman who had four children, served on a school board and coached youth football was killed in Iraq, friends said Monday.

Staff Sgt. Todd Olson, 36, of Loyal, died of injuries he suffered in Samarra, said his best friend, Dan Gluch.

His vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb Sunday, Loyal Mayor Arthur Olsen said.

Department of Defense and Wisconsin National Guard officials released no official information Monday and didn’t return messages left by The Associated Press.

Olson’s family was told he was injured, but around noon on Dec.26, they learned he had died, the mayor said. The Clark County community of about 1,300 people lowered its flags to half-staff Monday.

The mayor told The Associated Press he had known Olson since he was a baby.

“It couldn’t be any worse than at Christmas time,” the mayor said. “I feel for them. I didn’t go to war when I could have in World War II just for fear of my own life. Maybe that’s being greedy, I don’t know. Fortunately, we’re lucky to have people who are willing to serve and give up their lives. That’s why we have the freedom we do have.”

Thirty-two Wisconsin soldiers have died in Iraq since the war started. Olson was one of 35 soldiers with Detachment 1, Company C of the Wisconsin National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry.

Gluch, of Eau Claire, was at Olson’s home Monday. No one else there wanted to talk, he said.

“He deserves press, that’s for sure,” he said. “I don’t know how to even explain a guy like that. He was deeply devoted to his wife and family … I’m a better man for having him as a lifelong friend.”

He had known Olson since grade school, he said. They were roommates at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where they both studied finance, he said.

Olson worked as a vice president and an agricultural loan officer at M&I Bank in Loyal. Bank president Al Nystrom described him as a leader who would volunteer to take on extra responsibilities. For example, Olson volunteered to serve as a temporary manager of the Neillsville branch and volunteered to become an agricultural lender.

He often worked with dairy farmers, Nystrom said.

“He was a leader,” Nystrom said. “He spread himself in a lot of directions. Lot of personal sacrifices to do what he did for the bank … he’ll be sorely missed.”

Olson was married and had three sons, ages 17, 16, and 14, as well as a 5-year-old daughter, Gluch said.

He served on the Loyal School Board and in the local Lions chapter. He also coached Pop Warner football. He loved to hunt and watch the Green Bay Packers, too, Gluch said.

Olson often told him how blessed he felt, Gluch said.

“We’re at peace knowing he’s in heaven,” he said.

Funeral held for Loyal soldier killed in Iraq

LOYAL, Wis. — Staff Sgt. Todd Olson, who was killed in Iraq last month, was the type of leader who watched out for his men, his former commander told more 1,000 mourners at the soldier’s funeral.

“It’s not normal for a commander to walk point, but knowing Todd, I know why he was walking point that night,” Lt. Col. Steven Bensend said Wednesday of when Olson was injured by a roadside bomb Dec. 26.

Bensend said during the gathering at the Loyal High School gymnasium that walking point on a foot patrol is “the most vulnerable and dangerous position. It’s the eyes and ears” of the squad.

Olson, 36, was serving in Detachment 1, Charley Company of the Wisconsin National Guard’s Eau Claire-based 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry Brigade, when he led his squad on the patrol in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. He died the next day at a hospital in Tikrit.

He was the father of three boys — Trevor, 17, Jesse, 16, and Cody, 13 – and a 5-year-old daughter, Kasey.

Olson was an agriculture loans officer at M&I Bank in Neillsville and Loyal, and a member of the Loyal School Board.

A letter from his son Trevor read during the funeral recounted how his father was always there for his kids to coach their football teams, take them fishing and teach them how to find their way in the world.

“Dad was always my role model,” he said. “If I have half the qualities of him, I’ll be a good man,” the teenager said in the letter.

— Associated Press

Army 1st Lt. Christopher W. Barnett

Died December 23, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

32 year old Christopher Barnett, of Baton Rouge, La.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 156th Armor Regiment, 256th Brigade Combat Team, Louisiana Army National Guard, Shreveport, La.; killed Dec. 23 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle in Baghdad.

Louisiana Guardsman killed in Iraq

Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Baton Rouge area man, 2nd Lt. Christopher W. Barnett, was killed by a roadside bomb that exploded near his vehicle in Baghdad last week, the Department of Defense said.

Barnett, 32, of Denham Springs, was killed early Thursday. He was assigned to the Army National Guard’a 1st Battalion, 156th Armor Regiment, 256th Brigade Combat team, based out of Shreveport.

“He believed in what he was doing,” his older brother, Jim Barnett, of Mobile, Ala., told The (Baton Rouge) Advocate. “He died doing what he wanted to do.”

Barnett had planned to join an active-duty unit again once his tour in Iraq ended, his brother said. “He loved being a soldier,” Jim Barnett said. “He loved his troops. He lived by duty, honor, bravery and sacrifice.”

But, Barnett added, Christopher also had a great sense of humor: “He’s about the funniest person I’ve known in my life.”

Barnett, who attended Glen Oaks High School before his family moved to Jacksonville, Fla., lived in Baton Rouge from seventh grade to 10th grade, his brother said. He later came back to the state to attend LSU, graduating a year ago.

He is survived by his wife, Amanda, in Denham Springs, and his parents, Bob and Judy, who live in the town of Baker near Baton Rouge.

Barnett’s was the second of two deaths involving Louisiana military personnel in Iraq last week. Pfc. Lionel Ayro, 22, of Jeanerette, was killed Tuesday when an explosion ripped through a mess tent at a base in Mosul. He was assigned to the 73rd Engineer Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

Navy Chief Joel Egan Baldwin

Died December 21, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

37 year old Joel Baldwin, of Arlington, Va.; assigned to Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 77, Gulfport, Miss.; killed Dec. 21 when his base dining facility was attacked in Mosul, Iraq.

Gulfport chief killed in Iraq mess hall blast

By Christopher Munsey

Navy Times staff writer

A Navy Seabee chief killed in the suicide bombing of a Mosul, Iraq, mess hall on Dec. 21 was remembered for his skilled teaching, dedicated leadership and civic involvement.

Chief Builder (SCW) Joel E. Baldwin, 37, was one of 14 service members killed in the attack. The explosion, which killed 22 and wounded 69, occurred as service members, civilian contractors and Iraqi guardsmen sat down for lunch at Forward Operating Base Marez.

“At this point, it looks like it was an improvised explosive device worn by an attacker,” Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Dec. 22 at a Pentagon news conference.

Myers did not say whether authorities believe the bomber worked at the base or got into the mess tent some other way. Baldwin was a member of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 out of Gulfport, Miss., which deployed to Guam and Iraq in October. He joined the battalion in April.

“Just a very good human being, an exceptional Navy leader and a great Seabee,” said Capt. Will McKerall, commanding officer of Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport.

McKerall said Baldwin’s most recent civic project was organizing a group that built a playground at his daughter’s elementary school.

Seabees are spread all over Iraq, and McKerall said Baldwin was performing general engineering evaluation work.

Born in Panama, Baldwin joined the Navy in 1988, and his home of record was listed as Arlington, Va.

Before coming to NMCB 7, Baldwin taught quality control to sailors training in Seabee ratings at the Naval Construction Training Center in Gulfport.

“He was recognized for being an exceptional instructor, he was on his way to other things,” McKerall said.

He leaves behind a wife, Claudia, and their 9-year-old daughter, Cali.

Claudia Baldwin, who works as an intern at the local Veterans Affairs hospital, also served as one of the battalion’s ombudsmen, linking families to the command, McKerall said.

A memorial service is being planned at Gulfport, McKerall said.

Baldwin’s death is not the first time Seabees have suffered a combat casualty in Iraq.

Seven Seabees from NMCB 14, a Reserve battalion out of Jacksonville, Fla., died in two separate attacks in Anbar over a three-day period in late April and early May.

Baldwin’s awards include two Navy Achievement Medals, four Good Conduct Medals, an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, two Overseas Service Ribbons, two National Defense Service Medals, two Navy “E” ribbons, the M16 rifle expert marksman device, and Sea Service deployment ribbons.

The Mississippi-based Keesler Federal Credit Union set up a memorial fund in his name, to help his wife and daughter, said spokeswoman Michelle Manley.

Those who want to donate to the Baldwin Memorial Fund, account number 80100.12, can mail donations to: Keesler Federal Credit Union, attention Baldwin Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 7001, Biloxi, MS 39534.

Army Sgt. Berry K. Meza

Died December 19, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

23 year old Berry Meza, assigned to the 180th Transportation Battalion, 13th Corps Support Command, Fort Hood, Texas; killed Dec. 19 when a vehicle struck him in Shuaybah, Kuwait. Also killed was Army Staff Sgt. Donald B. Farmer.

Texan dies in Kuwait

Associated Press

FORT HOOD, Texas — A 23-year-old soldier from League City was one of two Fort Hood soldiers to die Sunday in Shuaybah, Kuwait, when they were struck by a vehicle.

The Department of Defense identified the two as Sgt. Berry K. Meza of League City, and Staff Sgt. Donald B. Farmer, 33, of Zion, Ill.

They were assigned to the 180th Transportation Battalion, 13th Corps Support Command, at Fort Hood.

Meza was in his third tour of duty in the Middle East. Family members said he was struck by a car while changing a tire.

“He was a very outgoing person who enjoyed life and would always tell everyone, ‘Life is short. Live everyday like it is your last,”’ Meza’s aunt, Cyndi Meza, told the Galveston County Daily News. “He loved his country and he loved his family.”

Marine Lance Cpl. Franklin A. Sweger

Died December 16, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

24 year old Franklin Sweger, of San Antonio; assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii; killed Dec. 16 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

San Antonio Marine killed in Iraq

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio Marine who loved science and dreamed of getting married and raising a family has been killed in Iraq, his family confirmed Saturday.

Lance Cpl. Franklin A. Sweger, 24, died Thursday as a result of enemy action in Iraq’s Anbar province, the Defense Department said.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Sweger was depressed when he first arrived in Iraq three or four months ago, said his mother, Susie Hernandez. But he was more upbeat when he last talked to them on the phone two weeks ago.

“Everything’s OK mom, don’t worry about me,” she recalled him saying. “I think I’m going to make it.”

Hernandez said her son joined the Marines in the spring of 2001 after having trouble in his first semester at Lamar University. He wanted to go back to school to study chemistry after completing his military obligations, she said.

“He loved science,” she told The Associated Press. “He studied chemistry and everything on his own since he was little. He wrote down all the definitions for everything.”

Sweger was devoted to his family and looked forward to starting one of his own, Hernandez said. In addition to his mother, he is survived by his stepfather, his father and stepmother, two stepbrothers and many aunts and uncles.

“He was always making everybody laugh,” Hernandez said. “He loved everybody. He was just so full of love and laughter and joy.”

Marine Cpl. Michael D. Anderson Jr.

Died December 14, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

21 year old Michael Anderson Jr., of Modesto, Calif.; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed Dec. 14 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

* * * * *

Modesto Marine killed in Iraq

Associated Press

MODESTO, Calif. — When Cpl. Michael Anderson Jr. first arrived in Iraq in September, the risky duties of searching house-to-house for insurgents was a thrill for the 21-year-old from Modesto.

“At first, he was all gung-ho, like everybody is,” his father told the San Francisco Chronicle. “He called after the first firefight he was in and said it was the greatest day of his life.”

But the horror of the war quickly changed his attitude. He told his family he was having nightmares and couldn’t get the smell of flesh and blood out of his head.

Anderson was killed Tuesday on one of those missions in Fallujah. The Department of Defense released no additional details Wednesday about his death.

“He was tough as nails,” his father said. “You know when they say that Marines are a different breed? I didn’t know what they were talking about until I had one for a son.”

As a child growing up in Modesto, Anderson enjoyed skateboarding, snowboarding and motorcycles. He graduated from Johanson High School in 2001 and then joined the Marine Corps.

He served stints in Japan, Guam and Haiti before being sent to Iraq this past Sept. 11.

Anderson was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton.

Army Sgt. Tina S. Time

Died December 13, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

22 year old Tina Time, of Tucson, Ariz.; assigned to the 208th Transportation Company, Army Reserve, Tucson, Ariz.; killed Dec. 13 in a vehicle accident near Cedar, Iraq.

* * * * *

Army Reserve soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press.

TUCSON, Ariz. — An Army reservist has been killed in Iraq, believed to be the first female American Samoan to die in the war.

Authorities said Sgt. Tina Safaira Time, 22, died Monday near Cedar, Iraq, when the supply truck she was driving during a dust storm collided with another military vehicle.

Time was assigned to the Army Reserve’s 208th Transportation Company based in Tucson, Ariz.

Time’s family said she was a top student and leader at Leone High School, where she graduated in 2000.

School officials were planning to honor her Thursday night with a candlelight service and Christmas program at the school campus in American Samoa.

Time was two months away from completing a 22-month tour in Iraq before returning home, according to her family.

Mary Time said her daughter was a proud soldier and a great role model who loved her family, which includes four siblings, three of whom are serving in the U.S. military.

Time was a mechanic and worked on medium trucks for the unit, which has more than 100 members. She was promoted to sergeant in January.

After being assigned to Tucson, Time began taking classes at Pima Community College in computer science and enjoyed fixing cars in her spare time.

She joined the Army Reserve to serve her country and help offset the cost of attending college, her mother said.

Born in Australia, Time grew up in Pago Pago in American Samoa — a group of islands in the southern Pacific Ocean northeast of Fiji. It is an unincorporated territory of the United States and has a population of about 60,000.

In high school, Time was an honor student and class president. She was also a member of a youth group and a choir, and was a Sunday school teacher in her church.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffery S. Blanton

Died December 12, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

23 year old Jeffery Blanton, of Fayetteville, Ga.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii; killed Dec. 12 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

Georgia Marine killed in Iraq two days after leaving hospital

Associated Press

SENOIA, Ga. — A Marine from Georgia was killed over the weekend in Iraq after returning to the battlefield two days after being released from a hospital where he was treated for an earlier gunshot wound, his aunt said Tuesday.

“He lost three toes and had an opportunity to come home, but he would not,” Sandra Blanton said of her nephew, Lance Cpl. Jeffery Blanton. “He wanted to stay. He didn’t want to give up his career with them.”

Blanton, 23, of Fayetteville, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay.

His aunt said the Marines provided details to his family Sunday night. She said they were told he was doing a ground sweep with other soldiers when he was shot to death. She said he had been released Friday from a hospital in Iraq after having previously been wounded by gunfire.

He was one of seven Marines killed Sunday in two separate incidents in Iraq’s Anbar province, which encompasses the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.

Blanton had been in the Marines for three years and wanted to make a career of it, his aunt said. His wife, Amber, also serves in the Marines and was in Afghanistan at the time of Jeffrey’s death, the aunt said.

Jeffrey Blanton grew up in Senoia, in Coweta County, southwest of Atlanta. While in high school, he enjoyed football and baseball, his aunt said.

“He was very happy about being in the military,” his aunt told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “He had a lot of pride for the uniform that he wore.”

Marine killed in Iraq laid to rest

Associated Press

MARIETTA, Ga. — U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey joined about 100 other mourners Tuesday at a graveside service at the Marietta National Cemetery for a Georgia Marine who was killed in Iraq.

Lance Cpl. Jeffery Blanton, 23, was killed in action in Fallujah on Dec. 12, just two days after being released from the hospital for another injury.

Blanton’s wife, Amber, and mother, Tracie Botts, were among family members attending the service. Local residents also said they felt a need to pay their respects even though they did not know Blanton.

Fred Duncan of Marietta, who served in the Marines from 1982 to 1986, said that while he did not know Blanton, he felt a kinship.

“The Marine Corps is a brotherhood,” Duncan said. “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”

Absent from the service were Blanton’s father and stepmother, Steven and Donna Blanton of Senoia, who had previously said they would not attend the funeral because Blanton wanted his son to be buried in Fayette County.

Blanton was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

The Cobb County native grew up in Senoia in Coweta County southwest of Atlanta. He later moved back to Cobb to be closer to his mother and attended Marietta High School, where he played football and baseball.

Blanton enlisted in the Marines in 2002 and had been stationed in Fallujah for the last two months.

He and his wife met while both were stationed in Hawaii, he in the Marine Corps and she in the Army. The couple married on Feb. 29, 2003. Earlier this year, Blanton was called for duty in Iraq while she was sent to Afghanistan.

Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Patrick D. Leach

Died December 9, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

39 year old Patrick Leach, of Rock Hill, S.C.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment, South Carolina Army National Guard, Columbia, S.C.; killed Dec. 9 in an Apache helicopter accident in Mosul, Iraq. Also killed was Army 1st Lt. Andrew C. Shields.

Federal Way native killed in Iraq

Associated Press

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — One of two soldiers killed when a pair of U.S. helicopters collided in Iraq was a commercial airline pilot who had served in Operation Desert Storm.

Warrant Officer Patrick Leach, 39, was one of the victims, said his parents, Bruce and Grace Leach of Tacoma.

“My son was doing what he had to do,” said Bruce Leach Sr. “He hated to leave his family. But he went because he was told to go. He did his duty.”

The Federal Way native, a member of the South Carolina National Guard, died Thursday when an AH-64 Apache struck an UH-60 Black Hawk on the ground in the city of Mosul.

Leach’s parents learned of his death Thursday night when they returned from a visit with his wife and children in Rock Hill, S.C.

Officials in South Carolina identified the other soldier who died as Lt. Andrew Shields, also a Guardsman from that state.

The four men wounded in the collision have returned to duty, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a spokesman for Task Force Olympia, which includes the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade.

The accident was under investigation.

Leach served in the active-duty Army from 1986 to 1992 and was deployed to Iraq in 1991 as part of Operation Desert Storm.

Before his guard unit was called up, Leach was an airline pilot and regional jet captain for six years at Mesa Airlines, which flies US Airways Express flights out of Charlotte.

“Pat’s life’s ambition was to be a pilot,” brother-in-law John Landstreet said. “He lived for that and his family. This is just devastating.”

Leach is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children, a 4-year-old daughter and two boys, ages 2 years and 7 months. He also has 19- and 17-year-old sons from a previous marriage.

About two dozen Apaches and a half-dozen Black Hawks from the South Carolina National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment, are stationed in northern Iraq as part of Task Force Olympia. The unit was deployed in October with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, based out of Fort Lewis.

S.C. town remembers pilot killed in Iraq

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Friends, family and fellow pilots gathered this week for a memorial service honoring a South Carolina National Guard pilot killed in Iraq.

Patrick Leach, 39, a father of five, died in a helicopter accident in Mosul on Thursday. The Apache helicopter he was piloting ran into a Black Hawk helicopter on the ground, his family said.

Lt. Andrew Shields of Campobello also died in the crash.

Civilian pilot Leo Friedwald said he flew with Leach whenever he could. Leach, a veteran of the first Gulf War, was a jet pilot for Mesa Airlines out of Charlotte, N.C., before he was activated to serve in Iraq.

“We lost one of our best,” Friedwald said Tuesday during the memorial service at First ARP Church. “Best friend. Best pilot. Best person. Best guy.”

There are only about 1,000 Apache pilots in the entire Army, said Col. Tony Barber of the Guard’s 151st Aviation Regiment, based out of Eastover.

“We all knew Pat,” Barber said. “We all train together. Apache pilots are a close brotherhood. This hurts us all.”

Leach, a native of Washington state, married a Rock Hill woman, Elizabeth Brice Leach, and has lived in Rock Hill for years.

Army spokeswoman Maj. Elizabeth Robbins in Washington had no other details, other than that the crash did not occur during hostilities. The cause of the crash could take four to six weeks to determine, said Lt. Col. Pete Brooks, a Guard spokesman in Columbia.

— Associated Press

Soldier killed in Iraq laid to rest

ROCK HILL, S.C. — A soldier killed in Iraq earlier this month has been buried with full military honors.

Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Leach was buried Monday during a graveside service attended by more than 150 people.

Leach, 39, was killed Dec. 9 in a helicopter accident in Mosul, Iraq.

Three Apache helicopters flew over Laurelwood Cemetery, two heading south and the third turning north alone, symbolizing a fallen soldier.

A member of the South Carolina Army National Guard, he was a veteran helicopter pilot of the first Gulf War. He was deployed in October and was a member of A Company, 1st Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment.

“He was a cheerful giver,” the Rev. Barry Dagenhart said. “He gave up his life in the service of his country and ultimately for you and me.”

The service included a 21-gun salute and the playing of ‘Taps’.

Leach’s wife, Elizabeth, his two older sons, his parents and his brother were among those at the service.

Among the crowd was the twin brother of Lt. Andrew Shields of Campobello, who was killed in the incident with Leach.

Lt. Philip Shields of the South Carolina Army National Guard had attended his 25-year-old brother’s funeral Saturday.

Elizabeth Leach attended that service, as well.

Philip Shields, an Apache pilot himself, recently returned from Kosovo. He said his family was holding up under the circumstances.

“People wait too late to think of them as heroes,” he said. “They were heroes when they left. There are a lot more out there.”

— Associated Press

Marine Cpl. In C. Kim

Died December 7, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

23 year old In Kim, of Warren, Mich.; assigned to 9th Communications Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed Dec. 7 in a non-hostile vehicle incident in Anbar province, Iraq.

* * * * *

Marine from Warren killed in Iraq

Associated Press

Everyone describes In C. Kim as a shy young man who tried hard to fit in.

“He was quiet and daydreaming,” said his uncle, Christopher Kim. “Once I saw a picture he drew. It was a boy lying down on the grass and looking at the sky and daydreaming.”

Kim, 23, of the Detroit suburb of Warren, Mich., died Dec. 7 in a vehicle accident in Iraq’s Anbar province. He was assigned to Camp Pendleton.

After growing up in Seoul, South Korea, Kim moved to Michigan with his family five years ago. His parents named him In Chul because “In” means “merciful” in Korean and “Chul” means “pride.”

One day, military recruiters piqued his interest with talk of benefits and travel. He took a test and scored especially high in mathematics. He was a Marine by August 2001, a few months after graduating high school.

Kim spent six months in Iraq last year. Two months ago, he returned for another six-month stint. He was awarded the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and the National Defense Service Medal.

Kim’s father, Chang Kim, said one of the attractions of military service was its ability to help him learn more about American culture and help with his English.

“First of all, he wanted to learn English, then he wanted to learn about America,” his father said. “He wanted to serve his country.”

In C. Kim also is survived by his mother, Kyoung Kim, and an older sister, Sun Kim.

Army Sgt. Cari Anne Gasiewicz

Died December 4, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

28 year old Cari Anne Gasiewicz, of Depew, N.Y.; assigned to the 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 513th Military Intelligence Brigade, Fort Gordon, Ga.; killed Dec. 4 when two improvised explosive devices detonated near her convoy in Baqubah, Iraq.

Military interpreter from upstate New York killed in Iraq

Associated Press

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — A military interpreter from western New York died Saturday in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded on the convoy that was starting her on the journey home, church officials said Sunday.

Sgt. Cari Anne Gasiewicz, 28, of Cheektowaga, spoke fluent Arabic and served as an interpreter in a military intelligence unit of the Army. Military officials informed her family of her death Saturday, said her uncle, Marty Gasiewicz.

Gasiewicz died outside of Baghdad on Saturday afternoon while she was traveling to Kuwait, where she would have spent Christmas before being shipped home after the first of the year.

She graduated from Depew High School and attended Canisius College before enlisting in the Army eight years ago, according to Gwen Mysiak, a spokeswoman for the family’s church, St. Philip the Apostle in Depew. She was deployed to Iraq a year ago.

She is survived by her parents, Paul and Kathleen Gasiewicz of Cheektowaga, and her brother, Paul Gasiewicz Jr., 24.

“She loved the military, and she loved working as an interpreter,” said her uncle. “She thought she was making a difference over there. She thought she was helping people.”

Mourners remember soldier’s compassion

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — A military interpreter killed in Iraq was remembered Monday for the compassion she showed others, from stray pets to Iraqi children.

Sgt. Cari Anne Gasiewicz, 28, of Depew, died Dec. 4 when her convoy was struck outside Baghdad by two improvised explosive devices. The convoy was traveling to Kuwait, where Gasiewicz would have spent Christmas before being shipped back home in January after the yearlong assignment.

“No matter where Cari was, she always found time to help others,” the Rev. Joseph H. Penkaul told about 600 mourners Monday in St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church.

When she was stationed in Korea, Gasiewicz gave free English lessons and brought home a puppy named Sabre that she had rescued.

“It reminds us of Cari all the time,” said her father, Paul Gasiewicz. “That was her puppy, and she brought her home to us. She was always caring and looking out for everybody else.

“Cari wouldn’t want us to be mourning. She’s looking down on us and keeping an eye on all of us.”

Fluent in Arabic, Gasiewicz had been a soldier for more than eight years and hoped to work for the FBI or CIA after leaving the military. She was stationed at Fort Gordon, Ga., and was attached to the Army’s 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 513th Military Intelligence Brigade in Iraq.

Her family said Gasiewicz would take lunch to Iraqi contractors and teach them English if they would teach her another Arabic dialect.

“We will try to think of this as your last deployment,” her aunt, Barbara Funk, said in a eulogy. “One more place you wish to serve, one more group of people you want to know, an additional foreign language you desire to learn. And Sgt. Cari Anne Gasiewicz, when you do master the language of the angels, and I know you will, remember to teach the rest of us.”

Her body was taken to Pine Lawn Chapel, where her ashes will be entombed. She is survived by her parents and a brother.

— Associated Press

Marine Cpl. Binh N. Le

Died December 3, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

20 year old Binh Le, of Alexandria, Va.; assigned to 5th Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died Dec. 3 of injuries sustained in enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

Posthumous citizenship granted to Marine killed in Iraq

By Brett Zongker

Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Va. — He was born in Vietnam and came to America at age 6. After growing up in northern Virginia, he joined the Marines even though he was not a U.S. citizen.

Cpl. Binh Le became an American on Thursday, but he could not attend the citizenship ceremony held in the shadow of the Pentagon. Last month, he was buried nearby in Arlington National Cemetery, the victim of a truck bomb in Iraq during a voluntary second tour of duty there.

Le, 20, grabbed his rifle when the truck packed with explosives attacked his military post Dec. 3. He had run to a position to fire on the driver and hold back the vehicle when it exploded. His commanding officer recommended him for a Silver Star.

“His final act of bravery saved the lives of others,” Capt. Christopher J. Curtain wrote in a letter read at the ceremony. “I will be forever grateful for his heroism.”

An estimated 37,000 citizens of other countries serve in the U.S. armed forces. Since the Iraq war began, 54 have been awarded posthumous citizenship.

Le was raised by his aunt and uncle in Alexandria, Va. His parents, Lien Van Tran and Kim Hoan Thi Nguyen, traveled from Vietnam for his funeral. They are divorced but would like to remain in the United States to be close to their son’s grave, Nguyen said.

“There’s no way to describe the pain,” she said.

Rep. James P. Moran, D-Va., said he is working to offer citizenship to Le’s parents, which could require congressional action.

“I think this is a compelling enough case that we can get a single bill for citizenship for his parents,” Moran said. “They certainly deserve it.”

Tran said they didn’t have a problem with their son enlisting in the Marine Corps, but they wanted him to have time to attend college.

“His main concern was to join the military so that he could help protect the country he loved so much,” Tran said.

Army Pfc. George D. Harrison

Died December 2, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

22 year old George Harrison, of Knoxville, Tenn.; assigned to the 293rd Military Police Company, 3rd Military Police Battalion (Provisional), 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.; killed Dec. 2 when his Humvee was attacked by enemy forces using small-arms fire in Mosul, Iraq.

Fort Stewart honors Knoxville MP killed in Iraq

Associated Press

FORT STEWART, Ga. — Army Spc. George Daniel Harrison helped his fellow military policemen break the tension of constant danger in Iraq with infectious laughter, starting water gun fights and doing his grizzled veteran schtick.

Harrison, 22, of Knoxville, Tenn., was killed Dec. 2 during a firefight in Mosul. But fellow soldiers and family attending a memorial service Wednesday at Fort Stewart remembered the young soldier for his fearless sense of humor.

“He would talk about Vietnam like he was there, back in Nam,” said Spc. Joshua Curl, Harrison’s roommate. “He would buy water guns from the Iraqi kids and come in guns blazing. We acted like a bunch of kids on our downtime, but when it was time for business, everybody was on it.”

Harrison deployed in March with his unit, the 293rd Military Police Company, to help train and acclimate Iraqi police forces. It was hazardous duty, soldiers say, with troops under constant ambush from insurgents.

In Harrison’s honor, Fort Stewart officials planted an eastern redbud tree with a granite stone engraved with his name at its root at the Army post’s Warrior’s Walk memorial.

The lane of trees was begun in 2003 as a living memorial to 3rd Infantry Division soldiers killed in Iraq. Harrison’s tree marks him as the division’s 46th casualty since the invasion of Baghdad.

“I always told him, ‘You’re my hero,”’ said Doug Harrison, the soldier’s father, who attended the ceremony with his wife, Kim, and younger son, Joshua. “Even though we knew he was in harm’s way, you never, ever expect it to be your baby that’s taken away.”

Since the 3rd Infantry deployed 19,000 troops to Iraq for a second combat tour last month, it’s already clear the memorial at Fort Stewart will grow.

The Army announced late Tuesday that three soldiers of the division’s 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment died Sunday when their vehicle overturned in a canal near Balad.

They were identified as Spc. Dakotah L. Gooding, 21, of Des Moines, Iowa; Sgt. Rene Knox, Jr., 22, of New Orleans; and Sgt. Chad W. Lake, 26, of Ocala, Fla. Two other division soldiers were killed Feb. 5 when a roadside bomb exploded into their vehicle.

The night he was killed, Harrison was behind the machine gun of a Humvee when his convoy rushed to offer suppressing fire to U.S. troops under attack by insurgents.

Curl, who rode in another vehicle in the firefight, said an Iraqi bullet ricocheted off the front shield of Harrison’s machine gun and struck him in the chest.

For members of his unit, Harrison’s death hit especially hard because another soldier in his platoon, Spc. Andrew L. Tuazon, was killed in a firefight May 10.

Despite losing his older brother, Joshua Harrison, 20, cracked a smile while he told of a recent conversation with a friend. They were talking about his brother’s sacrifice, and the friend started laughing.

“She said, ‘I know what Dan would say in this situation — Ha, ha! I’m famous.”’

Army Pfc. Peter K. Cross

Died June 26, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

20 year old Peter Cross, of Saginaw, Texas; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died June 26 at FOB Shank, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over.

Army Pfc Cross was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York. He died at Combat Outpost Carwile, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. Cross had gone to get “chow” for his unit, which was on patrol. He was returning with the food when he rounded a corner on a mountainous road, saw children herding sheep, swerved to avoid them and rolled down the mountain. The crash killed Cross but no one else was hurt.

Peter was a 2007 graduate of Boswell High School in Saginaw, Texas. He had wanted to be a missionary and had traveled on mission trips to Fiji, Finland, Cameroon and Zambia while in middle school and high school. He attended Moody Bible Institute in Spokane, Washington for a year before deciding to join the Army – he decided he needed to mature a little.

In August 2008, Peter joined the Army and arrived at Fort Drum just as his brigade was deploying to Afghanistan in February. His awards include the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Army Service Ribbon and the NATO Medal. Peter loved kids and was always thinking of others. While in Afghanistan, he used to hand out candy, pens, paper and anything else he could spare for the kids when they would come around.

Marine Lance Cpl. Robert D. Ulmer

Died June 5, 2009 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

22 year old Robert Ulmer, of Landisville, Pa.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune N.C.; died June 5 as a result of a nonhostile incident in Taqaddum, Iraq.

During his senior year in high school, Robert D. Ulmer enrolled in a class to learn how to fix all kinds of motorcycles, recreational vehicles, lawnmowers and other outdoor machines. Early on in the 2005-06 school year, Ulmer helped “break the tension” in teacher Matthew Mann”s class one day when he was repairing a motorcycle tire. “He had straps on the tire that you”re supposed to take off when you start to fill the tire with air, but he forgot to take them off,” Mann said. “Next thing I know, I hear this loud ”pop” because the sidewall blew out of Rob”s tire. “He laughed it off with his big booming laugh, and that got the other students to laugh. He helped everyone learn we all make mistakes and you just have to move on.” Ulmer, 22, of Landisville, Pa., died June 5 in Al Anbar province as a result of a non-hostile incident. He was a 2006 high school graduate and was assigned to Camp Lejeune. Mann remembers that whenever he surveyed his students to find out what careers they planned to pursue upon graduation, Ulmer always replied that he was going into the Marines. He is survived by his wife, Rebecca.

Marine Lance Cpl. Dustin L. Sides

Died May 31, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

22 year old Dustin Sides, of Yakima, Wash.; assigned to 9th Communications Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed May 31 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.

Dustin L. Sides joined the Marines following an older brother and a cousin. “He was proud to be there, proud to be a Marine _ and we are proud of him,” said Nancy Sides, his stepmother. Sides, 22, of Yakima, Wash., was killed May 31 in an ambush near Fallujah, Iraq. He was based at Camp Pendleton. He graduated from a Yakima high school in 2001.

His father, John Sides, said he spoke with his son by phone just two hours before his death. Dustin told his father he had just completed a mission and was on his way back to base. Friend Amie Wakefield said she last spoke to Sides a few weeks before he died, when he telephoned from Iraq. “He wanted to be there, and he wanted people to be proud of him,” she said.

Sides is also survived by his mother. He had intended to marry a girlfriend in California when his duty in Iraq ended, relatives said.

Army 1st Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard

Died May 30, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

26 year old Kenneth Ballard, of Mountain View, Calif.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, from Friedberg, Germany; killed May 30 during a firefight with insurgents in Najaf, Iraq.

Calif. mother remembers son killed in Iraq

Associated Press

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — A 26-year-old Army officer had been scheduled to return from Iraq eight days before he was killed by small arms fire, his single mother said of her only child.

Lt. Ken Ballard, a tank platoon leader, died May 30 in Najaf, where U.S. troops had halted offensive operations Thursday as peace talks continued with Shiite militia leaders, said Karen Meredith, Ballard’s mother.

In one of the last e-mails Meredith received from Iraq, her son wrote, “Don’t worry about us. We know what we’re doing.”

Ballard originally had been scheduled to return from a little more than a year in Iraq on May 22, but Meredith said she rescheduled his “welcome home” party to Labor Day weekend after his stay was extended. The timing of his death made the news even more painful, she said.

Mother and son chatted, online or over the telephone, almost every day. The pair last talked Thursday, “a bonus day” because Meredith received both a letter and a phone call from her son.

“He was an only child. I was a single mom. He knew how important it was for me to hear from him,” Meredith said.

In his absence, Meredith began posting his photos from Iraq on her Web site, to keep friends and family updated about his daily activities and to remind the world “there are real people over there.” Ballard’s favorite picture shows him pointing to the fist-sized hole left by the sixth rocket-propelled grenade to hit his tank.

“It was important that people see his smiling face and for people to know what was going on in Iraq, that it wasn’t just a news story,” she said.

Born in Mountain View, Ballard joined the Army after graduating from Mountain View High in 1995. He served in Bosnia and Macedonia before taking a leave to attend Middle Tennessee State University, where he earned a degree in international relations in 2002.

Ballard planned to serve in the Army for two more years, then to earn a master’s degree and work in Washington, D.C. Now, Meredith said, “it’s going to be a different kind of welcome home.”

Marine Staff Sgt. Jorge Molina Bautista

Died May 23, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

37 year old Jorge Molina Bautista, of Rialto, Calif.; assigned to 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed by hostile action May 23 in Anbar province, Iraq.

Jorge A. Molinabautista wanted to become a Marine since his childhood. “He believed in what he was doing,” said his sister, Connie Molina. “He was so proud. He’s a hero.” Staff Sgt. Molinabautista, 37, of Rialto, Calif., spent 13 years in the Marine Corps and had trained as a drill sergeant at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where he was based.

He was killed May 23 by hostile fire in Iraq’s Anbar province. He had asked the Marines to change his last name from Molina to Molinabautista to honor his mother, Maria Bautista, and the military accommodated his request.

Molinabautista is survived by his wife, Dina, and three sons.

Army Spc. Michael C. Campbell

Died May 19, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

34 year old Michael Campbell, of Marshfield, Mo.; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; killed May 19 when his convoy hit an improvised explosive device in Samarra, Iraq.

In the months after the 2001 terror attacks, Michael C. Campbell drove trucks hauling debris from what used to be the World Trade Center. “That really played hard on him,” said Donna Gann, who with her husband took in Campbell during his high school years in the mid-1980s. The lack of blood relation to the Ganns didn’t matter, said their daughter, Sherry Wilson, “He was our brother and my mom’s son,” she said.

A Navy and National Guard veteran from Marshfield, Mo., Spc. Campbell, 34, deployed to Iraq with the Army. He was killed May 19 by a roadside bomb in Samarra. The decision to serve in Iraq wasn’t easy for Campbell, Wilson said. “He made sure it was OK with the family and that everybody was all right with it,” she said. “We didn’t like it, but we supported him 100 percent.”

Campbell last spoke to his family after Mother’s Day and thanked Gann for sending packages with candies and cookies, which he shared with fellow soldiers and Iraqi children.

Marine Pfc. Michael M. Carey

Died May 18, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

20 year old Michael Carey, of Prince George, Va.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died May 18 after he apparently fell into a canal in Iraq and did not resurface. His body was recovered the same day.

Serendipity brought Michael Carey to a Marine Corps recruiting office when he was 17. The Army recruiter wasn’t there when Carey and his grandfather stopped by, so they checked next door with the Marine recruiting office.

A Marine combat engineer from Hopewell, Va., Carey, 20, drowned May 18 in the Euphrates River while trying to defuse a bomb under a bridge.

“He was a brave man,” his brother, Kristopher, said. “I love you, Mikey. Thank you for making me what I am.”

Carey also is survived by his wife. He never met his daughter, Mia, who was born May 5.

Marine Lance Cpl. Bob W. Roberts

Died May 17, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

30 year old Bob Roberts, of Newport, Ore.; assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed May 17 by hostile fire near Fallujah, Iraq.

Oregon Marine killed in Iraq

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — A Marine from Oregon was killed by hostile fire in Iraq, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

Lance Cpl. Bob W. Roberts, 30, of Newport, died Monday in Al Anbar province.

He was assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Roberts is the 19th service member with strong Oregon ties killed in the Iraq war.

Roberts’ mother, who would not give her first name, told KATU-TV that her son graduated from Portland’s Madison High School in 1992.

She said her son, the second youngest of five children, called late last week. She said that even though he had two years left in the Marines, he told her that he may re-enlist.

“He was the adventurous one of the family,” she said.

Roberts worked as a plumber in Newport before joining the Marines after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

“It’s sad what happened,” Newport Mayor Mark Jones said Tuesday night. “The community is pretty tight, and we’re really saddened by the loss of any of our sons and daughters.”

Roberts was among more than 125 people from the Newport area serving in Iraq, Jones said.

Just on Monday, the city council accepted a flag flown in an Air Force jet over Iraq as a gift from the father-in-law of a pilot serving in the region, Jones said.

“We have a lot of kids in and out of there and we worry,” Jones said.

A memorial service has not been scheduled, but the family said Roberts will be buried at Willamette National Cemetery.

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Edward C. Barnhill

Died May 14, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

50 year old Edward Barnhill of Shreveport, La.; assigned to the 431st Civil Affairs Battalion, Army Reserve, North Little Rock, Ark.; died of a heart attack May 14 in Baghdad.

Shreveport man, husband, father, grandfather, deacon and soldier dies in Baghdad

By Francis McCabe

Shreveport (la.) Times

Friends described Edward “Carl” Barnhill as a superman often disguised in Clark Kent clothes. His wife of 28 years says “he was just a good man.”

Barnhill, a command sergeant major with the Army Reserve’s 431 Civil Affairs Battalion based in North Little Rock, Ark., and serving in Iraq, died in Baghdad on Friday. He was 50.

Barnhill of Shreveport leaves behind his wife, Paula, two sons, Jason, 24, and Marcus, 26, two grandchildren, his mother, two sisters and two brothers.

Army officials told Paula Barnhill her husband had a heart attack and could not be resuscitated, she said.

Sunday, sitting in an arm chair in the living room of their home on Pebble Beach Drive, wearing a black dress and holding a blanket over her lap, Barnhill’s wife was having a hard time coming to terms with his death.

“It really doesn’t seem real. I know it is real, it just doesn’t feel real,” she said staring at a picture of her and her husband taken during a 21-day leave in March. “It still seems like he should be coming home anytime now.”

The last time Paula Barnhill spoke to her husband was on May 9. “He called and wished me a happy Mother’s Day,” she said.

Support has been constant in the form of visits from friends and neighbors, fellow Greenwood Acres Full Gospel Baptist Church members where Barnhill served as a deacon, said Paula Barnhill, who works at the Riverside Elementary School.

“Carl was a good friend and a good family man,” said Leo Davis, a friend of the family. “He was like Clark Kent. Mild-mannered.”

“He was a good example to follow. Anybody who knew him will tell you what a fantastic man he was. He will be missed by everybody,” said Davis’ wife, Peggy.

Barnhill, a 32-year veteran of the Army Reserves, was called to active duty in February 2003 and left for Iraq in March 2003.

He was very proud to serve the nation, Paula Barnhill said. Their 28th anniversary was Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.

The couple met nearly 30 years ago at a church in Tennessee, where Barnhill was from. Paula Barnhill, originally from Illinois, had traveled down to Tennessee with her own church to visit. “He wrote me (letters) for a while,” she said, before they officially started dating.

They moved to Shreveport 14 years ago for a job Barnhill had gotten with Poulan Weed Eater.

“He always made time to come to my (football) games,” Barnhill’s son, Jason, said. “He was there at the right times. When I needed him.”

Barnhill was most recently employed as an engineer with the state Department of Transportation and Development and was a graduate of Western Kentucky University, Paula Barnhill said.

The U.S. Department of Defense listed Barnhill’s death as noncombat related and under investigation and would not give any further information when contacted Sunday.

Barnhill was awarded the Bronze Star in July 2003 while serving in Iraq, Paula Barnhill said.

Louisiana soldier dies of heart attack in Iraq

SHREVEPORT, La. — The last time Edward “Carl” Barnhill spoke with his wife of 28 years was during a phone call from Iraq on May 9.

“He called and wished me a happy Mother’s Day,” said Paula Barnhill, still struggling to accept the news she received of her husband’s death in Baghdad on Friday.

Barnhill, a 50-year-old father, grandfather, and deacon at his Shreveport church, had been awarded a Bronze Star — given for heroic or meritorious achievement — for his efforts in Iraq.

He died of a heart attack, not in combat, the U.S. Department of Defense told his wife.

“It really doesn’t seem real. I know it is real, it just doesn’t feel real,” she said staring at a picture of her husband and her taken during a 21-day leave in March. “It still seems like he should be coming home anytime now.”

Barnhill, a 32-year veteran of the Army Reserves, was called to active duty in February 2003 and left for Iraq in March 2003. He was a command sergeant major with the Army Reserve’s 431 Civil Affairs Battalion based in North Little Rock, Ark.

He was proud to serve, his wife said.

The couple met nearly 30 years ago at a church in Tennessee, Barnhill’s home state. Paula Barnhill, originally from Illinois, had traveled there with her own church group.

“He wrote me (letters) for a while,” she said, before they officially started dating. Their 28th anniversary was Valentine’s Day. They had two sons — Jason, 24, and Marcus, 26 — and two grandchildren.

“He always made time to come to my (football) games,” Barnhill’s son, Jason, said. “He was there at the right times. When I needed him.”

They moved to Shreveport 14 years ago for a job Barnhill had gotten with Poulan Weed Eater. Barnhill most recently worked as an engineer with the state transportation department and was a graduate of Western Kentucky University, his wife said.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremiah E. Savage

Died May 12, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

21 year old Jeremiah Savage, of Livingston, Tenn.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died May 12 of wounds received due to hostile action in Ramadi, Iraq.

Jeremiah E. Savage had dreamed since grade school of becoming a Marine.

“And that’s exactly what he did,” his mother, Eva Savage, said.

“When he wanted to talk to me, it was usually about the military,” said his high school principal, Gary Ledbetter.

Savage, 21, of Livingston, Tenn., died May 12 from hostile fire in Iraq. He was based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

His wife, Kassandra, talked to Savage the day before he died and told him she had sent pictures of their newborn son. “I told him the pictures were in there with his cigarettes and he should be getting them any day now,” she said. “I’m pretty sure he never got them.”

He is also survived by a daughter and two stepchildren.

Army Staff Sgt. Hesley Box Jr.

Died May 6, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

24 year old Hesley Box Jr., of Nashville, Ark.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 153rd Infantry, 39th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Arkansas National Guard, Texarkana, Ark.; killed May 6 when a car bomb detonated near his guard post in Baghdad.

Funeral set for Arkansas soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Ark. — A funeral will be held May 15 in Camden for Staff Sgt. Hesley Box Jr., 24, of Nashville, who was killed in Iraq.

The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Camden High School gymnasium. Organizers expect a large crowd of mourners to be on hand to pay their respects to Box and his family.

Box died May 6 in a car bombing in Baghdad. He became the seventh Arkansas member of the 39th Infantry Brigade to be killed by Iraqi insurgents in the past month. An eighth member of the brigade who was killed was from Simsbury, Conn. Box’s unit was based in Texarkana.

Box is survived by his wife, Alexia Johnson Box; and two children, 5-year-old T’Darius and 20-month-old Zacheas, all of Nashville. His mother and father live in Chidester, near Camden.

Sherry Johnson, the sister of Box’s widow, said the fallen soldier was honorable in both the military and in civilian life.

“Hesley was a good person, period. He was always giving of his time, always honest with you, always willing to help you out, always willing to go the extra mile to help somebody out,” Johnson said.

“I was with her (Alexia) when they came to tell her that Hesley had been killed,” said Sherry Johnson, the oldest sister of five siblings including Alexia. “There were two men the Army sent to give her the news.”

There will be no viewing of Box’s body, but his remains were transported to Hicks Mortuary in Hope, said casualty assistance officer Sgt. 1st Class Joyce Truitt.

Soldier killed in Iraq remembered for attentiveness to younger soldiers

CAMDEN, Ark. — The mother of a soldier who served in the 39th Infantry Brigade with 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Hesley “Tank” Box Jr. said Box looked after younger members of the unit.

Among those Box kept his eye on, Sarah Green said Saturday, was her son, Spc. Charles Green.

“He placed him under his wings of care,” she said.

In doing so, Box was extending to his fellow soldiers the love he felt for his wife and children, others attending Box’s funeral said.

Killed on May 6 in a car bombing in Baghdad, Box is survived by his wife, Alexia Johnson Box, and two children, 5-year-old T’Darrius, and 20-month-old Zacheas. The family lived in Nashville, Ark., but after the funeral, his remains were returned to his hometown of Chidester for burial.

More than 500 people showed up for the funeral in the gym of Camden Fairview High School, where he graduated in 1998.

Box was the seventh Arkansas member of the 39th to be killed in Iraq in the past month. An eighth soldier who was killed was from Simsbury, Conn.

Box began his service in Iraq about seven weeks before he was killed. Maj. Gen. Don Morrow, adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard, was among those attending the funeral.

“He was truly an outstanding soldier and I know his loss weighs so heavily on his family’s hearts,” Morrow said. “I can say to his family that he didn’t die in vain.”

Morrow said he had been told that, if Box hadn’t died in the bombing on a Baghdad street, others would have.

Darrell Marks, a member of the Roadside Church of God in Christ at Ozan that Box’s family attended, offered comfort to mourners. He compared Box’s passing to “slipping into a bedroom to rest.”

“He will join his friends and family later,” Marks said. “Just live your life so you will be able to see Brother Tank again.”

Earlier, Marks read excerpts from expressions of sympathy sent to the family by churches, officials and organizations.

Several in the audience shed tears when Box’s sister-in-law, Shalunda Johnson, sang the Mariah Carey song “Hero.” A woman walked among those seated in bleachers and folding chairs, handing out tissues.

Superintendent Theodore Marks of the Roadside Church said Box took advantage of opportunities the Army could provide and always retained his faith in God.

“He had insurance. If something happened, he was covered,” Marks said.

Box joined the National Guard in 1997. Before his deployment to Iraq, he had served in Saudi Arabia and Bosnia. As a civilian, he worked for the Potlatch Corp. sawmill in Prescott.

Box was buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Chidester.

Army Pfc. Jesse R. Buryj

Died May 5, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

21 year old Jesse Buryj, of Canton, Ohio; assigned to the 66th Military Police Company, Fort Lewis, Wash.; killed May 5 when his military vehicle was struck by a dump truck whose driver had been shot while trying to run through a control point in Karbala, Iraq.

Ohio soldier killed in attack at checkpoint in Iraq

Associated Press

CANTON, Ohio — An Ohio soldier killed in Iraq died while heroically trying to stop an attack on an Army checkpoint, family members said.

Jesse Buryj, 21, of Canton, fired more than 400 rounds at a dump truck trying to crash the checkpoint near Karbala. He shot the driver of the truck, which then crashed into the Humvee in which he was riding, an Army sergeant told his mother, Peggy Buryj, on Wednesday morning.

“Everyone was fine, but Jesse’s stomach was hurting him,” she was told. “They took him to a hospital where they found he had massive internal injuries, and he died on the operating table.”

His mother said Army representatives were expected to tell her more Thursday.

Buryj was a soldier with the 66th MP Company at Fort Lewis, Wash., in October when he married his high school sweetheart, Amber Tichenor.

“They were just married a few months and he had to leave,” she said.

Buryj was a member of the Canton City Police Youth Corps before he joined the Army during his senior year.

“He told the Army, ‘If I can’t be an MP (military police officer) and a paratrooper, I’m not going,”’ she recalled. “He went to jump school and he got his wings.”

His mother said he wanted to be a military police officer so he could become a Canton police officer.

“That’s all he wanted — to be a Canton police officer. But he couldn’t be a Canton police officer until he was 21. So he joined the Army,” she said, adding that to her, “My son was a police officer — always.”

Ohio soldier remembered for his bravery, compassion

CANTON, Ohio — Pfc. Jesse Buryj was remembered at his funeral Saturday for his life-saving bravery and friendly, caring personality.

Buryj, 21, of Canton, died May 5. He was credited with saving at least three lives when he fired more than 400 rounds at a dump truck trying to crash a checkpoint near Karbala, the military and family members have said.

An Army sergeant said Buryj shot the driver of the truck, which then crashed into his Humvee, said Peggy Buryj, the soldier’s mother. He later died of injuries from the crash.

Buryj was with the 66th Military Police Company at Fort Lewis, Wash., and was one of 24 Ohioans who have been killed in Iraq.

“He is a soldier. He is too young to be gone,” Gen. Dennis Moran told about 250 mourners inside Eleventh Street Church of God.

“As a military police officer, his first job was to serve and protect” fellow soldiers, Moran said. “He trusted his life to those soldiers as they trusted theirs to him.”

Moran presented Buryj’s family with his medals — the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Matthew Beadoin, who was best man at Buryj’s wedding, gave the eulogy and said Buryj was “the bravest person, friend and soldier” he had ever known.

The Canton McKinley High School graduate enlisted in the Army out of high school because he was too young to be a Canton police officer, which remained his career goal. Buryj married his high school sweetheart, Amber Tichenor, in October.

Outside the church, people waited in the rain with flags and signs to show their support for Buryj’s family. Among them were family and friends of Cpl. Andrew Brownfield, of nearby Akron, who was killed in Iraq on March 18.

“We’re here to support this family,” said Brownfield’s mother, Melody Roop. “They’re going through what we went through, and we’re here for them.”

A few minutes later, she and her family burst into tears when the song “You Raise Me Up” blared from the church’s loudspeakers across the street. The same song was played at her son’s funeral.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Ronald E. Baum

Died May 3, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

38 year old Ronald Baum, of Hollidaysburg, Pa.; assigned to 2nd Intelligence Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; killed May 3 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.

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Marine killed in Iraq fighting

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — A Marine from western Pennsylvania who volunteered to go to Iraq was killed May 3 in Anbar province, where the turbulent cities of Ramadi and Fallujah are located, according to defense officials and his family.

Gunnery Sgt. Ronald E. Baum, 38, of Hollidaysburg, was a member of the 2nd Intelligence Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Defense officials did not release further information. His brother Jodi Baum, 28, of Altoona, Pa., said defense officials told the family that Baum was in the turret of a Humvee when it was hit by a rocket. Two other Marines in the vehicle survived, Jodi Baum said.

“Ronnie was just so incredible. He volunteered to go to Iraq. He said it would be an opportunity to fulfill his mission and he did it. If there was any way to go, this was the way he would have wanted it,” his brother said.

Ronald Baum and another brother, Marine Staff Sgt. Brian Baum, 37, both joined the Marines in 1986, Jodi Baum said. Ronald Baum took the Marines more seriously.

According to Navy and Marine C orps Web sites, Baum took part in the evacuation of 172 people in Eritrea during a border dispute with Ethiopia in 1998.

He was also an instructor at the Naval Survival School in Rangeley, Maine, where he taught troops to survive in hostile environments and evade capture.

Ronald and Brian Baum were stationed in Iraq, according to Jodi Baum.

Ronald Baum was an avid sports fan and would often call his brothers while watching Pittsburgh sports teams and Penn State football games.

He is survived by his wife, Cindi Baum, 29, and three children, ages 3, 7 and 10.

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‘Tough as nails’ Marine killed in Iraq eulogized

ALTOONA, Pa. — A 38-year-old Marine from western Pennsylvania was remembered as fearless and dedicated up until his last minute, when he was hit by a mortar trying to save six soldiers and another Marine.

Hundreds of people crowded into a church in Altoona to honor Gunnery Sgt. Ronald E. Baum, who was killed May 3 in an attack in Al Anbar province, where the turbulent cities of Ramadi and Fallujah are located.

He was buried Tuesday in Blue Knob, not far from his Hollidaysburg home, about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh.

“He gave his life for love of his country, the Marine Corps,” said his wife, Cynthia Baum. “If Ron could speak to us today, he would say, ‘I am proud to be a husband, father, brother, friend, but above all, proud to be a Marine.”’

Baum, a member of the 2nd Intelligence Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, was posthumously honored with the Navy Marine Corps Commendation for his actions during the attack.

Defense officials said Baum and seven soldiers came under mortar and machine gun fire. Baum replaced a soldier atop a Humvee and was killed when it was hit by a mortar.

“He was tough as nails, disciplined, compassionate,” said Baum’s company commander Capt. Michael DuBruel. “He helped make the world a batter place. Ron lived life to the fullest. He died while leading men in battle.”

Ronald Baum and another brother, Marine Staff Sgt. Brian Baum, 37, both joined the Marines in 1986, his family said. Ronald Baum took the Marines more seriously.

“It is our sacred duty to defend this country and what we believe in, and my brother did that,” said Brian Baum, who also was in Iraq, but given leave for the funeral. “All I have to say, if you didn’t know him, you didn’t talk to him, he is the greatest person I’ve ever known in my life, the best man I’ve ever seen in my life.”

According to Navy and Marine Corps Web sites, Baum took part in the evacuation of 172 people in Eritrea during a border dispute with Ethiopia in 1998.

He also was an instructor at the Naval Survival School in Rangeley, Maine, where he taught soldiers to survive in hostile environments and evade capture.

He is survived by his wife; two sons, ages 10 and 4; and a 7-year-old daughter.