Reading the list of casualties posted by the DOD is always emotional. Tuesday, there was news of a Marine casualty in the Helmand province, who never got to hold his baby daughter. Next, came the announcement that the remains of a Vietnam era soldier had been identified. Closure for the family, at last.
Later came the listing of two Army losses. The first was an inspirational young woman who died in Iraq. Such a beautiful smile! The last of the fallen for that day was a man who left behind a fiancée and his 11-year-old daughter.
With a heavy hearts, we honor these fine representatives of the US military this sad evening:
- Marine Corporal Jonathan D. Porto
- Air Force Major Curtis "Dan" Miller
- Army Specialist Erin McLyman
- Army Sergeant First Class Glen "Jake" Whetten
Marine Corporal Jonathan D. Porto
Jonathan Porto was from Largo, Florida. He joined the Marine Corps in March 2008, and was promoted to the rank of corporal on December of 2009. He was assigned to 1st Battalion 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He deployed to Afghanistan in December of 2009.
His father indicated that Jonathan joined the service because he had a hard time finding other employment. An article at the Suncoast News site quotes Jonathan's sister Sonya:
"He's one of eight kids. We're grieving. We're really close."
She said her brother and his wife were married in May and had a daughter in January. Porto's father said his son never got a chance to hold his newborn daughter and saw her only in pictures.
Sonya Porto described her brother as "probably the most fun" of the eight siblings. "He had a heart of gold and he really wanted to make sure everyone was OK."
While in Afghanistan, Porto worked as a small arms repair technician assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7, Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan.
The NATO-led ISAF alliance said Porto died in a vehicle accident on March 14th. He was in a convoy in the Helmand province of Afghanistan when the truck he was riding overturned. He was caught underneath and killed. The Corporal was 26 years old.
Porto's awards include the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and NATO International Security Assistance Force Medal.
Porto leaves behind his wife, Rachel, 23, and their infant daughter. He is also survived by his father, Steve Porto; his mother, Rachel Bernaby; his stepfather, Brian Bernably and seven siblings. Plans for his memorial service are pending, but the Patriot Guard Riders will be there as a silent honor guard.
Air Force Major Curtis Daniel Miller
On the 38th anniversary of the date that a 14-man crew boarded their AC-130A Spectre gunship for the final time, the last member of the crew to be positively identified will be buried.
Their armed craft had taken off from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, on an reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. The aircraft was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile. The date was March 29, 1972. The search for them was stopped after a few days due to heavy enemy activity in the area.
In 1986, joint US-Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams, lead by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), surveyed and excavated the crash site in the Savannakhet Province of Laos. The team recovered human remains and some personal items from the aircraft wreckage. From 1986 to 1988, the remains were identified as those of nine men from this crew.
Between 2005 and 2006, teams resurveyed the crash site and excavated it twice to find more evidence. As a result, JPAC identified the other crewmen using forensic identification tools, circumstantial evidence, mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons.
The remains of Air Force Major Curtis Daniel Miller, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Major Miller, who was from Palacios, Texas, will be buried on March 29th in the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. The Patriot Guard Riders will be there to help honor him. Remains of the aircrew that could not be individually identified are included in a group that will be buried together in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
There is much more information about Major Curtis "Dan" Miller on the Virtual Wall. May he rest in peace.
Army Specialist Erin McLyman
Erin McLyman was a troubled youth when she started high school in Eugene, Oregon. She turned her life around and made up for lost time by cramming a normal 4-year course of studies into 2 1/2 years so she could graduate in 2001 with the rest of her class. She was given Sheldon High's "Turnaround Achievement Award", an honor that recognizes students who work to overcome barriers to their personal success.
After graduation, she served in the Air Force. After leaving that branch of the military, she met and married a soldier. They lived in Washington state. Erin enlisted in the Army, and joined her husband's unit in January of 2009.
Never content to do things halfway, she volunteered to go to Iraq and deployed there in August of 2009. She was assigned to the 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, as a wheeled-vehicle mechanic. Her division was based at Joint Base Lews-McChord, Washington.
She last saw her husband while on leave about a month ago. He is quoted by the Oregonian newspaper's website:
"She was by far the most outgoing woman I ever met in my life," Williams recalled, adding that she was working three or four jobs when they met...
McLyman was "not the sit-down-and-watch-TV kind of person," her father said. She made a statement just by her presence, he said.
"You see her walk into the room with that bright red hair and big blue eyes," he said. "She was loud and fun. You knew it when she came in the room."
That same article also contains a link to a story about Erin from 2001 which details her triumphant battle to obtain a diploma.
Specialist McLyman died in Balad, Iraq on March 13th, from wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked her base with mortar fire. She was 26 years old.
Among Specialist McLyman's military awards and decorations are the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and Air Force Training Ribbon.
Services are expected to be held next week for Specialist Erin McLyman in Eugene, Oregon. The Patriot Guard Riders will be attending. She leaves behind her husband, parents, and sisters Mischa of Seattle and Nancy of Portland.
Army Sergeant First Class Glen "Jake" Whetten
Glen Jacob Whetten was born in 1978 and grew up in south Phoenix. His mother still lives in Mesa, Arizona. Glen graduated from South Mountain High School in 1996.
He enlisted at age 18, and in 2003, he was one of the first soldiers on the ground in Iraq. After coming home, he went to Georgia and worked as an instructor for five years at Fort Benning, Georgia. While there he met his fiancee, Megan Hughes. As an Army Ranger, Whetten volunteered to go to Afghanistan to train soldiers there. He was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division in Fort Riley, Kansas and deployed to Afghanistan. According to the Az Central site:
Michael Lee of Mesa, Whetten's brother-in-law, said Whetten was a confident leader and the kind of person who would inspire others in battle. But he was also a friendly, easygoing man who loved playing with children.
"You kind of thought he was superman, but we are all mortal. You never thought it would happen to him," Lee said. "I'm proud of his life and I'm proud of his death."
SFC Whetten was killed, on March 12th, near Kandahar in the Zabul Province. His heavily-armored vehicle detonated a 300-pound improvised explosive device (IED) buried under the asphalt. He was killed instantly. He would have celebrated his 32nd birthday on the 19th.
Whetten leaves behind his fiancée, an 11-year-old daughter, his mother, and three siblings.
Services are being handled by the Meldrum Mortuary in Mesa and the funeral is scheduled for Saturday at Rest Haven Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona. The Patriot Guard Riders will be attending to help honor Sergeant Whetten on his final journey.
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Helping our troops:
If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider Operation Helmet, or Fisher House. Sponsoring a deployed service member at TroopCarePackage.com can provide letters or care packages that make a real difference in a military person's life. To assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here. Also, you could visit:
When our veterans come back home, they need jobs. Look at the programs of Hire Heroes USA and Welcome Back Veterans to see if you can help out. The new KINship Project has also been of help to our veterans and other Kossacks In Need.
About the IGTNT series:
"I Got the News Today" is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remind us of the sacrifice of our US troops. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, noweasels, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, SpamNunn, a girl in MI, JeNoCo, Mediaprof, TrueBlueMajority, JanosNation, Proud Mom and Grandma, Ministry of Truth, and CalNM. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but are an important service to those who have died, and show our community’s respect for them.
Fallen service members whose names have been released by the US Department of Defense will usually be diaried two days after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner
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Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.