Tonight, we have a sailor, marine and two soldiers to remember. We, also, have a MIA soldier from the Korean War, who has been identified and laid to rest at Arlington. There are still 83,000 missing Americans unaccounted for from our past wars.
Since 2001, there have been 1932 American troops killed in Afghanistan. Since January 1, 2012 there have been 68 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan. Please take a moment to honor their sacrifice.
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members chronicled here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.
DoD Announces Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Tyler J. Smith, 24, of Licking, Mo., died April 3, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when he was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device. Smith was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Staff Sgt. Tyler Smith grew up in a small town of about 1500 in central Missouri. His friends and family in the small community were shocked by the news. People remembered him as a likable and funny. He was a devout Christian. Smith was married and had two children ages 2 and 5. Debbie Dakin,remembered him from school, she told the
Rolla Daily News:
“I worked at the school for 10 years and pretty much watched him grow up all through elementary school,” said Debbie Dakin. He was just a very nice young man, he never caused his family any grief.”
“They are a very nice family,” she said. My heart just breaks for them. What can you say under the circumstances?” said Dakin.
Smith joined the Army in May, 2006. He served a 15 month tour of duty in Iraq in 2007 and two tours in Afghanistan. Sgt. First Class Jeremiah Mason told the
Fayetteville Observer:
"I first met Staff Sgt. Smith when he was a young sniper in the Arghandab River Valley," Mason said. "Cool as a cucumber, he exuded a restrained confidence that put the men around him at ease. The men knew well that Staff Sgt. Smith was more than capable of ensuring their well-being while he stood watch in dangerous lands. This is a rare quality; he will be terribly missed and never forgotten."
SSGT Smith earned the following awards and decorations: Purple Heart, Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal with one oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with one campaign star, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, NATO Medal, Global War on Terror Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon with numeral 2, Combat Infantryman's Badge, Expert Infantryman's Badge and Parachutist Badge.
DoD Announces Navy Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom Horn of Africa.
Constructionman Trevor J. Stanley, 22, of Virginia Beach, Va., died April 7 while deployed to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. Stanley, a Seabee, was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3, homeported in Port Hueneme, Calif.
Constructionman Trevor Stanley deployed in February to Djibouti to help conduct humanitarian and civil affairs. When he failed to report for muster, fellow sailors went to his room and found he was dead. His death is under investigation.
Stanley was a SeaBee. He joined the Navy in April, 2009. His awards and medals include the National Defense Service Medal and Pistol Marksmanship Medal.
DoD Announces Marine Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Cpl. Alex Martinez, 21, of Elgin, Ill., died April 5 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Cpl. Martinez always wanted to be a Marine. He begged his mother to sign the papers so he could enlist at 17. His wife, Juliana, told the
Daily Herald: When recruiters came to Larkin,
“he would do push-ups just to get a T-shirt or a bottle of water or a key chain,” she remembered. They married right after he turned 18, because he was headed to boot camp.
“We knew boot camp was going to separate us, so we decided to get married real quick before he left,” she said, later adding, “As long as it kept us together, that’s what we focused on.”
The young couple looked forward to a future when he came back home. Martinez planned on becoming a firefighter and starting a family. Martinez had serve two deployments in Afghanistan.
This would have been Alex’s last year in the Marines, Julianna said. “He was ready to be a civilian and live our lives, and be normal,” she said.
Juliana told the Daily Herald, he was loved by everybody. Besides his wife, Juliana, Martinez is survived by his parents and seven siblings.
Semper Fi, Cpl. Alex Martinez.
DoD Announces Army Casualty
Spc. Jeffrey L. White, Jr., 21, of Catawissa, Mo., died April 3, in Khost province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
Spc. Jeffrey White was due home within the week when he was killed by an IED explosion. His family and friends had planned a bonfire and an outing to the Blues and Cardinals game. Now they are planning to honor the young paratrooper at the game.
Spc. Jeffrey White was a 2008 graduate of Pacific High School. He was on his first deployment to Afghanistan.
kdsk.com
Rest in Peace, Specialist Jeffrey White.
MIA Soldier from Korean War Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Cpl. Patrick R. Glennon of Rochester, N.Y., will be buried April 11, at Arlington National Cemetery. On Nov. 1, 1950, Glennon, and the G Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, were holding a defensive position along the Nammyon River near Unsan, North Korea, when they were attacked by Chinese forces. Glennon was listed as missing in action following the heavy fighting.
In April 2007, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) handed over six boxes of remains of American service members to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi, who were visiting North Korea. The remains had been recovered from areas near Unsan, where Glennon had been lost.
Metal identification tags bearing Glennon’s name, and other material evidence were included with the remains. To identify the remains, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools such as dental records and mitochondrial DNA -- which matched Glennon’s cousins.
Today, more than 7,900 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Korean War. Identifications continue to be made from the remains that were returned to the United States, using forensic and DNA technology.
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor, respect and remind. Its title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one. Diaries about the fallen usually appear two days after their names are officially released, which allows time for the IGTNT team to find and tell their stories.
All of the U.S. fatalities can be seen here and here. They all had loved ones, families and friends. The DoD news releases are here. I Got the News Today is intended to honor, respect and remind. Click the IGTNT tags below for previous diaries.
Click the IGTNT tags to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by Monkeybiz, Noweasels, Blue Jersey Mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, SisTwo, Spam Nunn, True Blue Majority, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Maggie Jean, Jax Dem, Kestrel 9000, TheFatLadySings, Ekaterina, and me, Sandy on Signal.
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members chronicled here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.