Army 1st Lt. Eric Yates

Died September 18, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

26 year old Eric Yates, of Rineyville, Ky.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died Sept. 18 in Maquan, Zhari district, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

ROTC grad dies in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — A campus memorial service has been scheduled for Sept. 23 at Western Kentucky University for a Rineyville native and graduate of the school’s ROTC program who died in Afghanistan.

1st Lt. Eric D. Yates died Sept. 18 from injuries received when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in the Zhari district in Kandahar province, according to the Army.

Yates was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), at Fort Campbell.

“It’s a sad day here,” Lt. Col. Jason T. Caldwell, head of WKU’s Department of Military Science and Leadership, told The News-Enterprise of Elizabethtown. “It reminds us about what our WKU ROTC graduates can experience when they become officers in the military and defend our country.”

Yates graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2008 and was a double major in social studies and history. He received his commission through WKU’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.

Another Fort Campbell soldier was also killed in the attack. The Army said Staff Sgt. Jamie C. Newman of Richmond, Va., died Sept. 17.

“It’s tough to lose a member of the family even if your family is 21,000 students, 2,200 employees and 100,000 alumni,” WKU President Gary Ransdell said, adding Yates was the first ROTC cadet he knew as a student to be killed in action. “We suffered a loss last weekend that brings world events close to home.”

Yates had arrived at Fort Campbell in October 2009, according to the Army. His awards and decorations included the National Defense Service Medal; the Afghanistan Campaign Medal; the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; the Army Service Ribbon; the Overseas Service Ribbon and the Combat Action Badge.

He is survived by his father, David L. Yates, and mother, Kathy Yates, both of Rineyville.

A 2003 graduate of John Hardin High School in Elizabethtown, Yates is the second graduate of that school to die in Afghanistan in the last two months. Spc. Nathaniel Garvin, a Radcliff native also based at Ford Campbell, died in July in Afghanistan.

Michael Leasor, who graduated with Yates from John Hardin in 2003 and attended elementary school with him in Rineyville, told The News-Enterprise of Elizabethtown that Yates wanted to join the military at a young age. He said he talked with Yates about a month ago, shortly before he deployed.

“He was just his usual self,” Leasor said. “He was always kind of quiet … He looked at it as just doing his job.”

Burial set for fallen Campbell soldier

The Associated Press

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — A Kentucky soldier killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan will be buried in his hometown, Rineyville.

Services for 1st Lt. Eric Yates are set for 10 a.m. Sept. 27 at St. James Catholic Church in Elizabethtown with burial at St. John Cemetery in Rineyville.

Yates was killed Sept. 18 when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, according to the Army.

Yates was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell.

Yates wanted to be a teacher

The Associated Press

Eric Yates was a quiet soldier who took a no-frills approach to his job and let his work do the talking.

“He looked at it as just doing his job,” said Michael Leasor, who graduated from Kentucky’s John Hardin High School with Yates in 2003.

Former school principal Brent Holsclaw said Yates didn’t talk much but was a good student who did all that was expected of him.

Yates, 26, of Rineyville, Ky., died Sept. 18 in the Zahri district of Kandahar province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky.

Yates graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2008 with a degree in social studies and history. He was in the school’s ROTC program.

Jessica Forrest, a social studies teacher at Hardin High School, said Yates “was a real sensible and likable young man” who couldn’t wait to one day begin a career as a teacher.

Lt. Col. Jason Caldwell, who leads the ROTC program at WKU, said he always heard only good things about Yates.

“He was kind of a quiet, soft-spoken young man, but always got the job done, was always true to his word,” Caldwell said.

Army 1st Lt. Tyler E. Parten

Died September 10, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

24, of Jonesboro, Ark.; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died Sept. 10 in Glehazi District, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire.

Ark. soldier killed by insurgents in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

MARIANNA, Ark — The father of an Arkansas soldier who was killed in Afghanistan said Sept. 12 his son was a gifted leader who was dedicated to serving his country.

“He was one of the most incredible individuals a man could ever be,” Dave Parten told The Associated Press of his son, 24-year-old 1st Lt. Tyler E. Parten.

The Defense Department said Tyler Parten was killed in Afghanistan on Sept. 10 after insurgents attacked his unit. The department said he died in Konar province after being wounded when insurgents attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.

He had been stationed in Afghanistan since May and was a scout platoon leader on the mission in which he died. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Parten grew up in Marianna and graduated from Marianna Lee High School.

Dave Parten, 53, said his son was a 2007 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. “The top 10 percent of his class or something like that,” he said.

A second son, Daniel, is in his fourth year at West Point, he said.

Tyler Parten studied Arabic and wanted to be involved in conflicts targeting terror groups overseas, his father said.

“That was his reason for wanting to serve, to face the challenge and to serve others, serve his country,” Dave Parten said. “He wanted to lead other men.”

Tyler Parten’s mother, Lona Parten, told television station KAIT of Jonesboro, Ark., that her son loved the military and his country.

“He’s not just a U.S. soldier, he’s a man that took care of his troops,” she said.

Dave Parten said his son worked to excel in everything he attempted.

“He wrote music,” the father said. “He could pick up and play anything he wanted. He was just incredibly gifted.”

Tyler Parten, who was not married, also had a strong religious foundation and was a “wonderful Christian man,” his father said.

“He had a wonderful relationship with God,” Dave Parten said. “He affected everyone who ever shook hands with him.”

Tyler Parten’s body is expected to be returned to the U.S. over the weekend.

Mourners remember dedicated soldier

The Associated Press

MARIANNA, Ark. — Mourners remembered an Arkansas soldier Sept. 17 who killed in Afghanistan as a brave, dedicated man who knew what he was getting into when he enlisted in the Army.

Family and friends gathered in Marianna to honor 1st Lt. Tyler Parten, who was killed Sept. 10 in Kunbar province after insurgents attacked his unit with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, according to the Department of Defense.

“My brother died a hero,” his brother, Daniel, told mourners attending Parten’s funeral in downtown Marianna. “Tyler earned his military honors and he knew what he was doing. He knew exactly what he was doing when he signed up for the job he signed up for.”

Parten had been stationed in Afghanistan since May and was a scout platoon leader on the mission in which he died. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

He grew up in Marianna and graduated from Marianna Lee High School. He was 2007 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and his brother, Daniel, is now in his fourth year there.

Parten’s family remembered their son as a bright man who traveled the world and spoke Arabic fluently.

Parten’s service awards included a National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Combat Action Badge, according to his mother, Lona Parten of Jonesboro.

“Ty right now is having the greatest adventure of his life. … I don’t grieve for Tyler, I grieve for us, because a nation has lost a great man,” she told mourners.

‘Tough days make the good days that much better,’ he wrote

The Associated Press

Tyler E. Parten entertained the “kiddos” in Afghanistan with his harmonica, built a chicken coop and wrote warmly of the look on a man’s face “when you show his child a little compassion.”

Those are some of the war zone experiences he documented through photos and messages on Facebook.

“Tough days make the good days that much better,” Parten said in a mid-August posting.

The 2007 graduate of West Point was assigned to Fort Carson, Colo., and studied Arabic because he wanted to help target terrorist groups overseas.

“That was his reason for wanting to serve, to face the challenge and to serve others, serve his country,” said his father, Dave Parten. “He wanted to lead other men.”

The 24-year-old from Marianna, Ark., was doing just that when he died during an ambush Sept. 10 in Konar province.

His father said Parten’s talents went beyond those of a good soldier.

“He wrote music,” Dave Parten said. “He could pick up and play anything he wanted. He was just incredibly gifted.”

The Marianna Lee High School graduate is also survived by his mother, Lona; and a brother, Daniel.

Army 1st Lt. Todd W. Weaver

Died September 9, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

26 year old Todd Weaver, of Hampton, Va.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky; died Sept. 9 at COP Stout, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

Lt. leaves behind new wife, young daughter

The Associated Press

Todd Weaver’s idea of a romantic gift wasn’t jewelry. When his wife, Emma, celebrated her 21st birthday, he skipped the glittery stuff and took her skydiving.

“My husband was an amazing person who left this world too soon,” Emma said while eulogizing her husband. The couple’s daughter, Kiley, was born just nine months before Weaver left for his second deployment to Afghanistan.

He couldn’t see his daughter every day, but the Internet made it possible: His family sent video of the little girl walking around more than he’d ever seen.

Weaver, 26, of Hampton, Va., was killed Sept. 9 at COP Stout, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky. Weaver had attended the College of William and Mary, where he was a member of the ROTC. He had served in the National Guard, doing a tour in Iraq, before enrolling at the college.

Todd and Emma Weaver both attended Bruton High School in Virginia, but Emma told The Washington Post that she didn’t fall for the baseball and football star — who was always “the most popular guy” — right away.

Right before he left for Iraq, though, they were at a party together. It was raining. He ran outside in his socks, despite the rain, and gave her a kiss. When he came back, they were together every day.

Air Force 1st Lt. Joseph D. Helton Jr.

Died September 8, 2009 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

24 year old Joseph Helton, of Monroe Ga.; assigned to the 6th Security Forces Squadron, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.; died Sept. 8 near Baghdad of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

Airman killed in Iraq IED attack

Staff report

An Air Force security forces officer died Tuesday near Baghdad when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

The victim was 1st Lt. Joseph D. Helton Kr., 24, of Monroe, Ga., the Defense Department announced Wednesday.

Helton was deployed from the 6th Security Forces Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. He was stationed there in 2007 after graduating from the Air Force Academy, reports said.

“We’d like to express our deepest sympathy to family, friends and comrades of Lieutenant Joe Helton for their recent loss,” said Col. Lawrence Martin, commander of MacDill’s 6th Air Mobility Wing. “Joe was an amazing airman and defender who volunteered to lead our best in Iraq. We are deeply saddened by his loss and very proud of his service.”

Air Force Academy graduate cared about family

The Associated Press

If someone had a question, Joseph D. Helton was the man to go to for the answer.

“He just looked like he knew the answers,” said his mother, Jiffy. He was comfortable cooking his signature treat, baklava, and cleaning, but he also had a “quiet, commanding presence,” she said.

Helton, 24, of Monroe, Ga., died Sept. 8 near Baghdad when the vehicle he was in hit a roadside bomb. He admired his family’s service — his parents, grandparents and three uncles all had been in the armed forces — and doodled battleships and fighter jets as a child.

The daydreaming was not in vain: He went to the Air Force Academy, graduating in 2007. He then was assigned to MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. He didn’t want to leave his sisters behind, but his mother insisted he follow his dream.

“He felt like he had to stay around home and take care of the girls and me,” Jiffy Helton said. “He felt like he was the man of the house.”

Helton also wrote a blog while in Iraq, writing that the people he met were “just like us on a basic, human level.”

He is survived by his mother; father, Joseph; and his sisters.

Army 1st Lt. Derwin I. Williams

Died July 6, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

41 year old Derwin Williams, of Glenwood, Ill.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 106th Cavalry Regiment, Illinois National Guard, Dixon, Ill.; died July 6 in Khanabad, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

Williams served for 16 years

The Associated Press

GLENWOOD, Ill. — A 16-year veteran of the Illinois Army National Guard has been killed while serving in Afghanistan.

Derwin Williams, 41, of Glenwood was killed July 6 when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Konduz. His wife, Felicia Williams, says the military informed her of his death that evening.

Williams worked as a correctional officer with the Cook County sheriff’s office. His wife says he’d served in Iraq for one year in 2004 and was slated to return from his tour in Afghanistan in August.

In addition to his wife, Williams is survived by three daughters, aged 22, 18 and 9.

Drill instructor had a soft spot for his men

The Associated Press

Derwin Williams was a correctional officer and worked as a drill instructor in the Cook County (Ill.) Sheriff’s Boot Camp, a strict detention program based on military discipline in Chicago.

But he had a soft spot, not only for his own children but for some of the men in the program.

The boot camp’s executive director, John Harrington, said Williams often became a father figure for the inmates, some of whom never had relationships with their own fathers.

“His kindness and soft-spoken manner had a great impact on everyone here,” Sheriff Thomas Dart said. “He will be greatly missed.”

Williams, 41, of Glenwood, Ill., died July 6 when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. A member of the Illinois Army National Guard based in Dixon, Williams had served a yearlong tour in Iraq in 2004 and was slated to return from Afghanistan in August, his wife said.

Felicia Williams said her husband would often take three of his girls paintball shooting and to amusement parks. He also was nearby when homework help was needed.

“They talked to him a lot, they went to him for anything, they could talk to him about anything,” his wife said. “They were very close.”

Along with his wife, Williams is survived by two stepdaughters, ages 18 and 22; two daughters, who are 9 and 19; and an 8-year-old son.

Army 1st Lt. Brian N. Bradshaw

Died June 25, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

24 year old Brian Bradshaw, of Steilacoom, Wash.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died June 25 in Kheyl, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

Army 1st Lt. Bradshaw was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska. He had been on patrol in Kheyl, Afghanistan when his vehicle struck an improvised bomb. Bradshaw and the other soldiers escaped without injury, but with the soldiers out of their vehicle, a passing civilian truck detonated a second roadside bomb which killed him.

Brian was born at Madigan Army Medical Center to military parents. He graduated from Bellarmine High School in Tacoma, Washington and then graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2007. While in high school, Brian served as a member of Pierce County Search and Rescue and was a counselor during summers at Camp Don Bosco where he had once been a camper himself. By the time he went to the university, he decided to join their ROTC program.

After graduation, Brian joined the Army and was deployed to Afghanistan in March. He didn’t go to win a war – he went to try and help the people there to have a better life. While on deployment, he would talk with his father about his fear for the safety of all his men – not himself. He would be tired but always upbeat and was especially happy when he received packages from home. In the packages, he had asked for items to give away to the local children. While on patrol, Brian and his men would take crayons, colored pencils, books and toys to give away to the kids.

He was considering making the Army a career but he had also talked about teaching history and he had started taking helicopters for back country skiing and possibly becoming a guide for back country skiing. Brian was very athletic and action-oriented. He bicycled, did back country skiing and climbed mountains. But most of all, Brian was a kind, caring person with a great sense of humor.

Army 1st Lt. Salvatore S. Corma II

Died April 29, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

24 year old Salvatore Corma, of Wenonah, N.J.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died April 29 at Forward Operating Base Bullard, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using improvised explosive devices.

Town stops to remember fallen O-2

By Shruti Mathur Desai

(Camden, N.J.) Courier-Post

WOODBURY HEIGHTS, N.J. — Friends and family of 1st Lt. Salvatore Corma gathered to pay their last respects to the fallen soldier during religious and military ceremonies May 12.

It was a day when faith and mission convened, where the “Ave Maria” was immediately followed by “The Star-Spangled Banner.” That’s because Corma loved the church and the military, friends and family said.

“He did what he loved and he loved what he did,” said his uncle, Martin Keeney, before reading Psalm 23. “He loved his brothers and sisters in arms.”

Corma died April 29 in Afghanistan, after waving aside 18 other soldiers to isolate an improvised explosive device. He was 24.

Before the start of Mass at Infant Jesus Parish at St. Margaret’s Church in Woodbury Heights, Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, who serves as the commanding general of Fort Bragg where Corma served, held a private ceremony with the family.

He presented several posthumous medals, including the Purple Heart and a recommendation that Corma receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The bells of the church tolled as Corma’s coffin was escorted out. The American flag was carefully draped across as his parents watched.

The mile-long funeral procession that snaked between Infant Jesus Parish and the Gloucester County Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Monroe was watched by dozens of mourners.

Fire departments brought out their rigs and hung American flags across the roadway, while firefighters and emergency medical personnel stood at attention at the side of the road. Police cars blocked traffic, the officers standing respectfully.

One man, caught by surprise by the procession, swept his weathered brown cap off his head, and stood on the sidewalk in salute, his hat and hand over his heart.

The students of St. Margaret’s School, which Corma attended, lined the street holding small American flags as the hearse carrying Corma’s coffin went by. It was preceded by an honor guard of police and motorcycle riders.

Corma’s mother, Trudy, smiled and waved at the children as she went by. That smile stayed on her face throughout the day.

It was from his mother that Corma learned his optimism, said Rev. Paul Galetto, president of St. Augustine’s Preparatory School, where Corma graduated in 2004.

Galetto, who presided over Mass, advised mourners to banish such thoughts as “Why do the good die young and why did Salvatore die?” Instead he encouraged them to remember Corma’s endless optimism, a trait that kept him smiling from the moment he walked in the doors of the school until the day he left.

“Sal was irrepressively happy,” Galetto said. “Sal never knew how to do anything but his best.”

Galetto said Corma embodied the spirit of service and good deeds, not for his own sake, but to earn the honor of friends, family and “a grateful nation who gives thanks for men and women like Salvatore Corma.”

At the veterans’ cemetery, Corma, a 2008 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, was given military honors, with a 21-gun salute and a bugler playing “Taps.”

Corma would have appreciated the military pomp, said his best friend, Robert Cahall.

“There’s nothing he loved more than the military honors.”

Marine 1st Lt. Matthew R. Vandegrift

Died April 21, 2008 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

28 year old Matthew Vandegrift, of Littleton, Colo.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died April 21 in Basra, Iraq, from wounds sustained while conducting combat operations.

Marine 1st Lt. Matthew R. Vandegrift remembered

The Associated Press

Growing up in Texas, Matthew R. Vandegrift was the kid in the middle of the rock fight, the one who dropped a cat out a second-story window to see if it really would land on its feet, and the one who put the emergency brake on a car that was rolling down a hill after he saw it in a James Bond movie.

“He was never the guy to start the fight,” said his brother, Barrett. “But he was always the one to finish it.”

Vandegrift, 28, of Littleton, Colo., died April 21 from wounds sustained during combat in Basra. He was a 2003 graduate of Texas A&M, where he was part of the school’s Midshipmen Battalion NROTC program, and was assigned to Camp Lejeune.

Vandegrift fulfilled a lifelong desire to serve his country and to follow in the footsteps of his father, who served in the Marine Corps from 1963 to 1971. “That boy thought I hung the moon,” said his father, John Vandegrift. “It’s the proudest thing I can claim.”

Mary Jane Vandegrift described her son as a charismatic child who grew into a caring man, someone who was determined to better the lives of those around him.

“He was the perfect kid,” she said. “One in a million.”

Army 1st Lt. Robert W. Collins

Died April 7, 2010 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

24 year old Robert Collins, of Tyrone, Ga.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Stewart, Ga.; died April 7 in Mosul, Iraq, when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

Snow didn’t deter him from West Point dream

The Associated Press

Robert Collins was more accustomed to the balmy weather of his hometown of Tyrone, Ga., where snow is rare. That didn’t stop him from attending the U.S. Military Academy, though, even after he visited on a snowy April day.

He decided he wanted to go after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. And a little snow didn’t stop him, said his mother, Sharon Collins.

“He seemed to really be having a neat experience, working with the local populace. He was thriving as a leader of men,” Sharon Collins told the Fayette Daily News of Georgia.

Collins, 24, was killed April 7 in Mosul, Iraq, when the vehicle he and another soldier were in hit a roadside bomb. He was assigned to Fort Stewart, Ga.

Back in high school, the soldier could always make his classmates laugh. He always wore a sweatband, all day long, earning him the nickname “Sweaty.” He also played fullback on the Sandy Creek High School football team for four years.

Football coach Chip Walker said Collins worked hard and encouraged his teammates to do the same.

“If my two boys can turn out like Robert, I will be satisfied,” Walker told the Daily News.

Collins also is survived by his father, Deacon, and girlfriend of eight years, Nicole Williams.

Air Force 1st Lt. Tamara Archuleta

Died March 23, 2003 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

23 year old Tamara Archuleta, of Los Lunas, N.M.; assigned to the 41st Rescue Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Ga.; killed in a HH-60G Pave Hawk crash on March 23, 2003, in Afghanistan.

Tamara attended the University of New Mexico and participated in the Air Force ROTC program.

After her commission, she trained to become a HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter pilot. She was assigned to the 41st Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base.

On March 23, 2003, Tamara was co-pilot of Komodo 11 during a mission in Afghanistan. The helicopter crashed, killing her and the five other airmen on board.

We honor her service.