"We are asking big things of our children. If we are asking that of our children, what type of people must you and I be?" |
ROBERT L. LOVE, died December 1, 2006, aged 28
BRYAN T. McDONOUGH, died December 2, 2006, aged 22
COREY J. RYSTAD, died December 2, 2006, aged 20
JESSE D. TILLERY, died December 2, 2006, aged 19
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"He was home on leave in June. ... That was the last time we saw him." |
KEITH E. FISCUS, died December 2, 2006, aged 26
In a recent interview, Pamela Fiscus remembered her son as an upbeat jokester, avid guitar player, golfer and bass fisherman who offered repeated assurances that he was safe.
"It just takes a certain type of soul to even enlist and want to be a soldier," Pamela Fiscus said. "His destiny in life was to become an American soldier, and he was a proud American soldier."
While in Iraq, Keith Fiscus would call or e-mail frequently. He would ask his mother to send him warm clothing for winter, and care packages with mint chewing gum, cherry Pop-Tarts, Gummi Bears, and Orville Redenbacher's Cinnabon Cinnamon Butter Microwave Popcorn.
Since her son died, she’s heard from his comrades – including a woman he dated while serving in Iraq. His mother laughs at how the woman recounted her son picking her up in a Hummer.
She’s also been in contact with her son’s Army buddy, who was driving the Hummer that Fiscus was riding in when it hit a roadside bomb Dec. 2.
It was in Taji, north of Baghdad, where Keith Fiscus’ Hummer was directed to go down a road that hadn’t been swept clear of bombs.
Once they realized they’d been led astray, they turned around and triggered one of the bombs, with the explosion sending the vehicle tumbling, she said. He apparently died of internal injuries.
Fiscus was to return home in February, and he hoped to eventually become a policeman and work with a department’s bomb squad, she said.
Fiscus’ death has hit the family especially hard. Pamela Fiscus’ mother, father and only sibling, her brother, also have died in the last 18 months. Darrell Fiscus’ father is struggling with a terminal illness.
Mixing with the family’s grief is indignant frustration with a war that has taken the lives of 14 soldiers from Delaware. Pamela Fiscus referred to the Iraq conflict as an "unjust war" and said American soldiers shouldn’t be there.
"He along with everybody else does not deserve this," Pamela Fiscus said. "It needs to stop. They need to come home. Nobody needs to be going through this, no more. It’s useless. It’s senseless. It’s just too much."
Keith E. Fiscus dies of injuries from I.E.D.
Keith Fiscus remembered
Keith Fiscus has services ahead of burial at Arlington |
BILLY B. FARRIS, died December 3, 2006, aged 20
KENNETH W. HAINES, died December 3, 2006, aged 25
TROY D. COOPER, died December 3, 2006, aged 21
KERMIT O. EVANS, died December 3, 2006, aged 31
TRANE (JOESPH T.) McCLOUD, died December 3, 2006, aged 39
JOSHUA C. STICKLEN, died December 3, 2006, aged 24
SHAWN L. ENGLISH, died December 3, 2006, aged 35
DUSTIN M. ADKINS, died December 4, 2006, aged 22
NICHOLAS D. TURCOTTE, died December 4, 2006, aged 23
JAY R. GAUTHREAUX, died December 4, 2006, aged 26
CHRISTOPHER A. ANDERSON, died December 4, 2006, aged 24
THOMAS P. ECHOLS, died December 4, 2006, aged 20
ALBERT M. NELSON, died December 4 2006, aged 31
ROGER A. SUAREZ-GONZALEZ, died December 4, 2006, aged 21
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"Now it’s come home. I was always against the war. But now friends are dying."
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ROSS A. McGINNIS, died December 4, 2006, aged 19
McGinnis "yelled, ‘Grenade. ... It’s in the truck,’" Thomas said. "I looked out of the corner of my eye as I was crouching down and I saw him pin it down."
McGinnis could have escaped the blast, Thomas said. "He had time to jump out of the truck," he said. "He chose not to. He gave his life to save his crew and his platoon sergeant. He’s a hero."
Three of the soldiers in the vehicle with McGinnis suffered minor injuries. Two of them have returned to duty. The fourth soldier is recovering in Germany.
Ross A. McGinnis dies in grenade attack
Ross McGinnis nominated for Medal of Honor for sacrificing life to save others
Ross McGinnis laid to rest |
MARCO L. MILLER, died December 5, 2006, aged 36
JORDAN W. HESS, died December 5, 2006, aged 26
MEGAN M. McCLUNG, died December 6, 2006, aged 34
DUSTIN J. LIBBY, died December 6, 2006, aged 22
TRAVIS L. PATRIQUIN, died December 6, 2006, aged 32
JOSHUA B. MADDEN, died December 6, 2006, aged 21
JESSE J.J. CASTRO, died December 6, 2006, aged 22
JASON I. HUFFMAN, died December 6, 2006, aged 32
YARI MOKRI, died December , 2006, aged 26
TRAVIS C. KREGE, died December 6, 2006, aged 24
CODY G. WATSON, died December 6, 2006, aged 21
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"He never really talked about the war because he didn't want us to worry. He'd always say, 'I'll tell you when I get back.' " |
VINCENT J. POMANTE, died December 6, 2006, aged 22
Karen Pomante packed her son's Christmas gifts and made sure to mail them by last Sunday's deadline to reach Iraq.
Don't send much, her 22-year-old son had told her. Vincent Pomante III would have to pack it when he came home. His three-year hitch with the Army would be up Jan. 9.
Vincent Pomante dies of injuries from I.E.D. |
YEVGENIY RYNDYCH, died December 6, 2006, aged 24
Her eyes clouded by grief and age, the grandmother of a Staten Island soldier killed in Iraq peered yesterday at a photograph of her grandson and the young woman who got his engagement ring only after he was already gone.
"This is what kills me," Lilya Kolchynskaya, 78, said softly in Russian. "I'm alive and he's no longer here. It's not fair. I'm all torn up inside."
Sgt. Yevgeniy Ryndych died before he could tell his family that he intended to marry the girl he met in Colorado or that the engagement ring he'd purchased for her over the Internet was being delivered by FedEx.
"My daughter called Kim [the fiancée] to tell her that he died," Kolchynskaya said. "Half an hour later she called back and said he sent a ring."
Yevgeniy Ryndych dies of injuries from I.E.D.
Yevgeniy Ryndych remembered
Yevgeniy Ryndych laid to rest |
NICHOLAS R. GIBBS, died December 6, 2006, aged 25
Among his mortar platoon buddies in Iraq, Sgt. Nicholas Gibbs had a lot of nicknames: Little Nick, Baby Gibbs, Li’l Ray, Giblet.
And for every nickname, there was a story to go along with it, said Maj. Jason B. Irwin, the rear detachment commander of the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, known as the "Bandits."
The last story about Gibbs is how, after his unit came under attack the evening of Dec. 6 in Ramadi, Iraq, he courageously stood up from his rooftop observation post to engage the enemy.
A single bullet struck Gibbs.
There wasn't much blood on the last casualty of the day in Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar Province. The bandages on the face of the American soldier who arrived at the U.S. field hospital in the area around midnight Dec. 6 were only a little red as medics crowded around him at the operating table. Navy Commander Carlos Brown, the chief surgeon at Camp Ramadi, peered at the bullet wound in the soldier's lower face as his team quickly cut clothes off the man and readied surgical equipment. "Stop," Brown said suddenly. All hands fell away from the table, and everyone grew silent. "He's dead."
The emergency room remained quiet for a moment, but outside a wail of grief went up from one of the soldiers who had rushed their comrade from a nighttime battle in Ramadi to the base hospital. "Jesus f---ing Christ!" the soldier yelled, falling to his knees. A second later several soldiers and Marines from Camp Ramadi were also kneeling with their arms around him as he cried.
Nicholas R. Gibbs slain by sniper
Nicholas Gibbs remembered
Nicholas Gibbs laid to rest
Perspective: The Most Dangerous Place in Iraq |
KRISTOPHER R. CIRASO, died December 7, 2006, aged 26
MICAH S. GIFFORD, died December 7, 2006, aged 27
HENRY W. LINCK, died December 7, 2006, aged 23
BRENT E. BEELER, died December 7, 2006, aged 22
NATHAN M. KRISSOFF, died December 9, 2006, aged 25
NICHOLAS P. STEINBACHER, died December 10, 2006, aged 22
BRENNAN C. GIBSON, died December 10, 2006, aged 26
CODY (PHILIP C.) FORD, died December 10, 2006, aged 21
SHAWN M. MURPHY, died December 10, 2006, aged 24
THOMAS W. CLEMONS, died December 10, 2006, aged 37
BRYAN P. McANULTY, died December 11, 2006, aged 39
CLINTON J. MILLER, died December 11, 2006, aged 23
MATTHEW V. DILLON, died December 11, 2006, aged 25
BUDD M. COTE, died December 11, 2006, aged 21
GLORIA D. DAVIS, died December 12, 2006, aged 47
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"Right before he died, he called and said, 'Mom, listen to me very, very carefully -- tell everybody thank you for the prayers. They need to know that their prayers are working, that I know I am being taken care of, that I feel the presence of God. I just know that I'm going to be okay, Mom. I'm okay.' Four days later, he was dead." |
BRENT W. DUNKLEBERGER, died December 12, 2006, aged 29
NEW BLOOMFIELD - To his fellow firefighters at the New Bloomfield Fire Company, Army Sgt. Brent Dunkleberger will be remembered as Baby New Year 2000.
Dunkleberger played the role for the borough's New Year's Eve huckleberry drop at the Perry County Courthouse -- complete with sash, cloth diaper and bottle of champagne.
"He came walking down the street with a big smile on his face and that diaper," said Jim Swenson, who moved next door to the Dunkleberger family when he came to Perry County more than 20 years ago. "Next thing you know, he shook up the bottle and I got a champagne bath."
Dunkleberger, a married father of four children, all under age 11, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Brent W. Dunkleberger dies of injuries from rocket-propelled grenade
Brent Dunkleberger remembered
Brent Dunkleberger remembered by family
Brent Dunkleberger laid to rest |
MATTHEW W. CLARK, died December 14, 2006, aged 22
LUKE C. YEPSEN, died December 14, 2006, aged 20
PAUL BALINT, died December 15, 2006, aged 22
HENRY K. KAHALEWAI, died December 15, 2006, aged 43
MATTHEW J. STANLEY, died December 16, 2006, aged 22
JOE L. BAINES, died December 16, 2006, aged 19
NICKLAS J. PALMER, died December 16, 2006, aged 19
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"I feel betrayed now for the simple fact that so many young people are going to defend our country and they're not coming home. It's just wrong." |
DAVID R. STAATS, died December 16, 2006, aged 30
Meagan Staats still remembers the first letter she wrote to her future husband, David, in December 2001.
She didn’t know the single Fort Carson soldier stationed in Iraq; she just got his name and address from a friend.
Her generic letter began, "Dear Soldier."
By next spring, Meagan and David had fallen for each other, even though they had never met, and he begged her to attend his May homecoming ceremony at Fort Carson. At first she refused — it was too much pressure for their first face-toface meeting.
"Sure enough, I showed up with my banner," Meagan said. "It says, ‘Welcome home, David Staats.’"
She still has that banner. She’ll bring it to his funeral Saturday in Colorado Springs.
David R. Staats dies of injuries from I.E.D.
David Staats remembered
David Staats remembered by wife
David Staats laid to rest |
SETH M. STANTON, died December 17, 2006, aged 19
BRIAN L. MINTZLAFF, died December 18, 2006, aged 34
KEVIN M. KRYST, died December 18, 2006, aged 27
JOSHUA D. PICKARD, died December 19, 2006, aged 20
ANDREW P. DAUL, died December 19, 2006, aged 21
ROBERT J. VOLKER, died December 20, 2006, aged 21
JACOB G. McMILLAN, died December 20, 2006, aged 25
SCOTT D. DYKMAN, died December 20, 2006, aged 27
MYLES CODY SEBASTIEN, died December 20, 2006, aged 21
KYLE A. NOLEN, died December 21, 2006, aged 21
RYAN L. MAHAN, died December 21, 2006, aged 25
RYAN J. BURGESS, died December 21, 2006, aged 21
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"In my opinion, I think he feared the second time. I know my children well. I heard it in his voice, and to me it seemed like he just feared it. I felt it also." |
FERNANDO S. TAMAYO, died December 21, 2006, aged 19
FONTANA - Two hours before the sun rose Tuesday, Mario Tamayo Sr. pushed himself out of bed. He had to ready himself for something every parent loathes and fears: his son's funeral.
"I tell people our pain is too deep because we lost something bigger than we can take," Tamayo Sr. said.
The Tamayo home is full of memories. Tamayo Sr.'s favorite place to eat - a center island in the kitchen - has been transformed into a shrine of pictures, Fernando's baby bib and his white baptism outfit that his parents kept for when he had his own child.
Photos adorn almost every wall. Military memorabilia fills his bedroom, and camouflaged netting covers a window. A photocopy of his final letter to his girlfriend rests in a china cabinet. Atop that is a Father's Day card he made at age 7.
On Tuesday morning, family members filled the home. Fernando's mother, Martha, stayed upstairs getting dressed in black. Tamayo Sr. watered plants out front.
He contemplated what awaited his family before the 2 p.m. funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Covina.
"It's the last time we can see his body," Tamayo Sr. lamented.
Tamayo Sr. doesn't know where these coming weeks will take his family. He and his wife need each other greatly. On this morning, she wept often, and at one point, sat and sobbed as her husband held her shuddering body.
The main task in the next few days will be to return to the mortuary and take their son home. The family decided to cremate Fernando because they have no real ties to the area, and if they move, burying him here would seem like abandoning him.
The Tamayos plan to find the proper place for their son. For now, though, they just aren't ready to let him go.
Fernando S. Tamayo killed in combat operations
Fernando Tamayo remembered
Fernando Tamayo has funeral services ahead of cremation |
JOSHUA D. SHEPPARD, died December 22, 2006, aged 22
Twenty-two-year-old Joshua Sheppard had plans for his life, but he knew it was going to take some extra work on his part to bring those dreams to fruition. That's why he joined the Army after graduating from Quinton High School in 2003. "His grades were OK, but they weren't enough to get him into college without help," Julie Young said. "I'm disabled. My husband's disabled.
"We couldn't afford to help him go to school."
Instead, Joshua Sheppard was counting on the military's G.I. Bill to help him with money for college. It would take a four-year commitment to serve on active duty, as well as another four in the inactive reserve, but he figured the experience he'd gain from working as a heavy equipment operator in an engineer unit wouldn't hurt.
Sheppard's enlistment contract called for him to remain in the United States, with no overseas tours for three and a half years, she said.
Sheppard had already finished more than three-quarters of his active duty commitment when the Army involuntarily extended his time by another six months. "He had nine months left," Young said.
Young said that although she's generally the rock everyone in her family leans on, when she saw the two servicemembers walking up her drive as she talked on the telephone to a friend Friday, "I just started saying 'No, no, no, I can't deal with this right now.' To tell the truth, I kind of fell apart."
But even though Young felt as if her heart had been ripped from her chest just before Christmas, she couldn't withdraw into herself. There was too much to do -- including breaking the news to her other four sons.
Joshua D. Sheppard slain by sniper
Joshua Sheppard remembered
Joshua Sheppard laid to rest |
ELIAS ELIAS, died December 23, 2006, aged 27
CURTIS L. NORRIS, died December 23, 2006, aged 28
BOBBY MEJIA, died December 23, 2006, aged 20
WILSON A. ALGRIM, died December 23, 2006, aged 21
CHAD J. VOLLMER, died December 23, 2006, aged 21
JOHN PAUL BARTA, died December 23, 2006, aged 25
MICHAEL J. CRUTCHFIELD, died December 23, 2006, aged 21
STEPHEN L. MORRIS, died December 24, 2006, aged 21
EVAN A. BIXLER, died December 24, 2006, aged 21
JASON C. DENFRUND, died December 25, 2006, aged 24
ERIC R. WILKUS, died December 25, 2006, aged 25
JAE S. MOON, died December 25, 2006, aged 21
DEXTER E. WHEELOUS, died December 25, 2006, aged 37
HAYES CLAYTON, died December 25, 2006, aged 29
ANDREW H. NELSON, died December 25, 2006, aged 19
AARON L. PRESTON, died December 25, 2006, aged 29
JOHN T. BUBECK, died December 26, 2006, aged 25
JOSHUA M. SCHMITZ, died December 26, 2006, aged 21
JOSEPH A. STRONG, died December 26, 2006, aged 21
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"We don't belong over there. They don't want us there and we don't need to be there. If President Bush wants someone over there to guard his buddies' oil wells, he should go over there himself." |
LOGAN (DOUGLAS L.) TINSLEY, died December 26, 2006, aged 21
CHESTER -- On Christmas night in Iraq, as insurgents battled U.S. Army troops in Baghdad, one Iraqi -- likely trying to kill Americans just minutes before -- lay dying from wounds in the dust and dirt. An Army medic called 'Doc T' by his buddies in Delta Company of the 509th Airborne knelt down as the bullets were flying and screamed out: "I can save him!"
An officer yelled no, the medic's mother was told. But the medic insisted because medics save people shot and dying. The 21-year-old Doc T performed field surgery anyway. The Iraqi lived.
The next day at noon Iraq time, 'Doc T,' Spc. Logan Tinsley from Chester, was dead.
Logan (Douglas L.) Tinsley killed in rollover accident
Logan Tinsley remembered
Logan Tinsley honored, remembered at memorial
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WILLIAM C. KOPRINCE, died December 27, 2006, aged 24
NATHANIEL A. GIVEN, died December 27, 2006, aged 21
CHRISTOPHER P. MESSER, died December 27, 2006, aged 28
TYLER (CLINTON T.) McCORMICK, died December 27, 2006, aged 20
EDWARD W. SHAFFER, died December 27, 2006, aged 24
WILLIAM D. SPENCER, died December 28, 2006, aged 20
NICHOLAS A. MILLER, died December 28, 2006, aged 20
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""He said 'When I get out and come back to Oklahoma, I'm never stepping out of it again. I guess he won't have to worry about that now." |
DUSTIN R. DONICA, died December 28, 2006, aged 22
David Donica said he learned his son's death was the 3,000th for the U.S. military in Iraq after logging on to the Internet, not long after declining to be interviewed by reporters who had come to the family's home.
"We had no idea why we were getting, within an hour almost, eight or nine people at the door," he said later Sunday. "That was a surprise to us because none of them mentioned why they were there. Perhaps, they were embarrassed. One guy was standing there shaking like a leaf."
Dustin Donica's unit was conducting counter-insurgency operations in Karmah, in Iraq's al-Anbar province, when he was fatally struck by small-arms fire from enemy forces, an Army spokesman said.
Reached later by phone, Donica declined to talk about his son, saying, "That would be hard for me to do."
Born and raised in Houston, Dustin Donica was a 2002 graduate of Klein High School. He enlisted in 2003 after a stint at the University of Texas at Austin. He completed basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., where he received the coveted airborne wings of an Army paratrooper.
In April 2005, "Double D," as he was known to his friends, was sent to the brigade's home base at Fort Richardson, Alaska. On his MySpace.com Web site, Donica, 22, noted, tongue in cheek, the incongruity of the posting.
"The Army finds it prudent to condition me to the cold in preparation for my Iraq tour," he wrote.
Dustin R. Donica slain by sniper |
LUIS G. AYALA, died December 28, 2006, aged 21
CHRISTOPHER E. ESCKELSON, died December 28, 2006, aged 22
WILLIAM R. NEWGARD, died December 29, 2006, aged 20
LAWRENCE J. CARTER, died December 29, 2006, aged 25
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"He was quite a good kid. ...He believed in honor and duty and respect. There's grown men that don't have what he had at 20." |
JOHN MICHAEL SULLIVAN, died December 30, 2006, aged 22
HIXSON, Tenn. — A soldier killed in Iraq the day before his son’s birth was remembered by his mother as "always smiling."
Sgt. John Michael Sullivan, 22, was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Carson. He was killed Saturday when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle while on combat patrol in Baghdad, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.
Sullivan volunteered for the Saturday patrol because another soldier was out sick, relatives said.
Family members said Sullivan had planned to return home Jan. 10 from his second tour in Iraq to see his son, who was born early Sunday.
John Michael Sullivan reported killed by I.E.D.
John Michael Sullivan remembered |
DAVID E. DIETRICH, died December 29, 2006, aged 21
U.S. Army Pvt. David Eugene Dietrich of Marysville beheld the ocean for the first time just this past September. He was 21.
"It’s like wrestling with the waves, but they win," he exclaimed on Delaware’s Rehoboth Beach seashore, remembers his long-time motherly role model, Jean Raisner.
The young man she and her husband, Craig Raisner, had grown to love as a son died Dec. 29 while on patrol in Baghdad, Iraq, after being in the Army less than seven months and in Iraq less than two months.
"He was pretty much part of our family," Jean Raisner says of the self-determined young man, who didn’t allow his homelessness to bring him down. The Raisners want to use their memories to honor Dietrich, who would have turned 22 in two weeks.
"David didn’t have a family and we didn’t want to let it go by unnoticed," they say.
Dietrich had a difficult life after being thrown out of his grandfather’s home in Marysville at age 14 and was left to raise himself, the Raisners say. Dietrich went through several foster homes, including the Newville home of Ed Gamble and his family, until he reached age 18.
So he returned and he lived with the Raisners for a time and also with their daughter and her husband in an upstairs apartment in their home. Other times, Dietrich slept over at the home of a retired Marine, Charles Nelson, and other friends’ homes around Marysville, the Raisners say. For a while, he stayed at the Marysville Pentecostal Church of God.
"David came to us in a snow storm," Jean Raisner says of the first time she met Dietrich. "He relied on friends — the Nelsons, us, Marysville Pentocostal...."
During his high school years, the Raisners remember, Dietrich would come to their home sometimes after not having eaten a meal for a day or more. "He would buy popcorn from the dollar store for dinner."
When asked if he was hungry, he would say, "Well, I don’t know." Then she would give him food and he "would devour everything he could see" because he didn’t know when he would get to eat again.
Dietrich was "proud he completed one of the hardest basic trainings you can do," Her husband says, adding he also knew being a cavalry scout would enable him to receive an extra $10,000 from the Army.
"That’s a fortune for a homeless boy and he bit it," Jean Raisner says, her voice cracking.
David E. Dietrich slain by sniper |
RICHARD A. SMITH, died December 31, 2006, aged 20
JONATHAN E. SCHILLER, died December 31, 2006, aged 20
ALAN R. BLOHM, died December 31, 2006, aged 21
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"Man, that's my baby, the greatest Marine who ever lived. Part of my soul is gone forever. That's a void that I will never fill. I don't want to think about ever going fishing again. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy." |