Music I Heard
Music I heard with you was more than music,
And bread I broke with you was more than bread;
Now that I am without you, all is desolate;
All that was once so beautiful is dead.
Your hands once touched this table and this silver,
And I have seen your fingers hold this glass,
These things do not remember you, beloved,
And yet your touch upon them will not pass.
For it was in my heart you moved among them,
And blessed them with your hands and with your eyes;
And in my heart they will remember always, --
They knew you once, O beautiful and wise.
Conrad Aiken
Tonight we say good-bye to a brave, devoted soldier who leaves behind a young widow, two little daughters and family and friends mourning a tremendous loss to them and to our nation. In addition, we also welcome home a soldier who finally will be laid to rest, after being listed as missing since he was lost during the Korean War. Please join me over the fold to pay our respects.
Quincy J. Green: "He loved his country..."
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Quincy J. Green, 26, of El Paso, Texas, died June 2 in Tikrit, Iraq, of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 601st Aviation Support Battalion, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.
The incident is under investigation.
Quincy Green joined the Army in 2003, after graduating from Orange Park High School in Orange Park, Florida, near Jacksonville. This past Monday, he was the apparent victim of sniper fire, although his death is under investigation.
Capt. John Fitzpatrick works with the NJROTC program at Orange Park High School. He remembered Green as the Raider Man (the school mascot) who joined the Army not too long after graduation.
"He's a great kid," said Capt. Fitzpatrick. "[He was in] great physical condition and was good at riling up the students at the games and getting them fired up."
SOURCE
Another teacher remembered Quincy as an outstanding role model for others:
"He was a very guided young [man] -- he seemed to know exactly what it is he wanted," said Kathy Brannon, one of Green's former teachers at OPHS. "(He was) very charming, polite and all of the things you'd want to have in somebody who's going to represent your school like that."
SOURCE
Family members say Quincy was very happy with military life, where he served as an assistant to the chaplain. As his sister, Charissa Parker told First Coast News:
"My brother is a hero," Parker said. "He died doing what he wanted to do. He loved his country, he fought hard for his country. That's it, he's a hero."
SOURCE
Quincy is survived by several family members, and by his wife, Lori, and their two young daughters, ages eight months and two years.
Rest in peace, Quincy. You will never be forgotten.
Pfc. Milton Dinerboiler Jr.: Home At Last
Tonight we also welcome home Pfc. Milton Dinerboiler Jr., U.S. Army, of Elkhart, Indiana, who fought in the Korean War and has been classified as missing in action since 1951.
According to a news release from the Department of Defense:
In late November 1950, Dinerboiler was assigned to the Heavy Mortar Company, 32nd Infantry Regiment, then attached to the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), 7th Infantry Division. The team was engaged in battle against the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, from late November to early December 1950. Dinerboiler was captured by the Chinese and marched on a route north of the Chosin Reservoir. He died in mid-to-late April 1951, from poor health and the lack of medical treatment. He was buried beside a hill along the route.
In 2002, a joint U.S./Democratic People’s Republic of Korea team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), recovered human remains from an isolated grave north of the Chosin Reservoir. The site correlates to a route that American POWs were taken while being moved north to a POW camp.
Welcome home, Milton. May we always remember your service and your sacrifice.
To date, 4092 members of the United States military have lost their lives in Iraq. More than 30,000 men and women have been wounded, and untold hundreds have taken their own lives. Defense Press Releases, from which the information at the start of this diary was drawn, can be seen here. The death toll among Iraqis is unknown, but is at least 100,000, and perhaps many times that number. To date, 515 members of the United States military have lost their lives in Afghanistan.
Supporting the Troops : A great way to provide support to our service people is by putting together a care package for a unit in Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s a wonderful way to send our troops things they really need -- necessities like socks, underwear, soup packets, feminine hygiene products, paper and pens, school supplies, and treats and trinkets they can pass out to the Iraqi and Afghan children.
There are a few ways to do this. You can go through troopcarepackage.com or anysoldier.com. If you go to the anysolider site click on WhereToSend for a searchable database. For example if you search "By Latest Email" you’ll see the troops who most recently have submitted a request for specific items. You then request their mailing address. Read Ninepatch’s wonderful diary on the how-tos of it all – it couldn’t be any easier thanks to her.
Operation Helmet is another great organization whose mission is to provide helmet upgrades. Fisher House is another worthy cause, and donating money is not the only option. You can also donate frequent flyer miles to hospitalized veterans or their families at Fisher House’s Hero Miles program. Operation Ensuring Christmas is another worthy cause that organizes theme park vacations for the children of our fallen troops. Finally, if you would like to assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here.
And please click here to support Netroots for the Troops:
And don’t forget them when they get home! Read welcomebackveterans.orgto learn what you can do.
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor, respect and remind. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and is currently maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, noweasels, MsWings, greenies, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, labwitchy, joyful, roses, SisTwo, SpamNunn, a girl in MI, JeNoCo and me, moneysmith. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but, we believe, an important service to those Americans who have died, and to our community’s respect for and remembrance of them.
These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but, we believe, an important service to those Americans who have died, and to our community’s respect for and remembrance of them. If you would like to volunteer, even once a month, please contact Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, or noweasels.
As you read this diary, please remember that it is intended as a tribute to the fallen, not as a forum for political discussions. Whatever your feelings about the war and occupation, please let your comments demonstrate respect and compassion for these sacrifices. We also ask that comments be considerate of the feelings of families and friends, as well as the many members of our community who have served in the military, or who have loved ones currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.