IGTNT: Left Behind (Military Spouses, Children, and Parents)
Sat Feb 10, 2007 at 06:09:39 AM PDT
We spend a lot of time talking about the legacies of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – the injuries and deaths (both military and civilian), the wreckage, the debt, the environmental impact. We may forget that legacies walk among us: people who have lost someone serving in the wars. My DH, who frequents a conservative board, showed me a post from a member whose waitress wife came home rattled after she dished up breakfast to the father of a soldier who’d been killed. She stood there and listened and let him cry.
Most of us don't know someone that was killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. For most of us, these are names. But for just a moment in each day, imagine you’re that waitress and you must bear a stranger’s grief. Read the names and stories in these diaries with an open, if broken, heart.
I Got the News Today (2/10/2007 Edition). Yesterday, the Department of Defense announced the names of two sailors and one Marine killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count the number of names released by the DoD is now 3,105 and there are 13 more names of the deceased awaiting notification of the next of kin before being publicly released.
More after the flip.
DoD News Release
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two sailors who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Petty Officer 1st Class Gilbert Minjares Jr., 31, of El Paso, Texas, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Manuel A. Ruiz, 21, of Federalsburg, Md., died Feb. 7 in a helicopter crash in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Minjares was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Cherry Point, N.C., and Ruiz was assigned to 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Minjares was aboard a helicopter that was downed last Wednesday in Fallujah. He leaves behind a wife and two children, a two-year-old and an infant, born last month. He was a native of El Paso, but resided in New Bern, N.C. The New Bern Sun Journal notes in its coverage this anecdote:
[Alderman Max] Freeze described Minjares as an "all-around good guy" who was willing to help out. Bea Mayo, Freeze's wife, said Minjares could be counted on to help move heavy objects for her.
Neighbor Linda Eubanks said Minjares put his medical skills to use when her sister fell and broke her arm.
"I took her to the emergency room with a magazine wrapped around her arm," Eubanks said. "They said 'where did you learn to do that?' I said, 'my neighbor. He's a medic.'"
Manuel Ruiz, who also died in the crash of the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, came from a military family; both parents served. He leaves them behind, as well as two younger brothers. The Baltimore Sun has this appreciation from Marjorie Scott, his former art teacher:
"When Manny would pick up a pencil and he would draw, there was so much feeling, so much emotion, so much power in his drawing -- he could make a pencil and paper sing," Scott said.
He planned to continue his studies at the Art Institute of Washington after the service, Scott said. And on a visit last spring, he showed her photos of a mural he was painting on his barracks wall in Iraq.
DoD News Release
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Maj. Joseph J. Ellis, 40, of Ashland, Ohio, died Feb. 7 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Ellis was assigned to Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
From the Army Times:
Ellis, of Ashland, Ohio, graduated from boot camp in 1984 and trained as a radio operator. He served with 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion and deployed in 1990 to Saudi Arabia with 1st Force Reconnaissance Company for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, according to his biography posted on the 15th MEU’s website. Over his 22-year career, he did several tours at the School of Infantry, was the battalion radio chief for 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment in Hawaii and worked as a canvassing recruiter in Cleveland, Ohio.
...
Among his personal awards and decorations are the Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal with combat "V" and two gold stars and two awards of the Combat Action Ribbon.
Ellis is the 141st resident of Ohio to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.
All of the U.S. fatalities can be seen here. They all had loved ones, families and friends. The DoD news releases are here.
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor, respect and remind. Click here for the previous diary in this series, and here to see the series.
This series is maintained by i dunno; Sandy on Signal and I are helping out for a while. Please leave a comment below to honor these men who are coming home in such a terrible manner.
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