December is an important part of the holiday season for almost everyone in the US. Most are having special times with their family and loved ones this month. With our rich and varied culture, we all have the freedom to spend this time in whatever way is most meaningful to us. The 8 days of Hanukkah are over. Our neighbors in northern California, the Hopi tribe, just celebrated "Soyaluna" to recognize the Winter Solstice and the coming new year. The 12 days of Christmas and the 7 days of Kwanzaa are upon us. Next week we will celebrate the beginning of a new year on the Gregorian calendar.
No matter what occasions we celebrate, it is always sad when a family is missing a loved one at their gathering. Two families have lost an important member of their family this week. These recently departed are:
o Sergeant Albert D. Ware
o Private First Class Serge Kropov
Sergeant Albert D. Ware
Albert D. Ware was from the South Side Pullman neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. When he was twelve, his father had worked for two years get him out of the war-torn country of Liberia and into the US to live with his dad and stepmother. Albert was a Corliss High School graduate and was in the military for six years. He had spent 2 1/2 years in the National Guard and went full-time in the Army after that. He was assigned to the 782nd Combat Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Ware had begun his second tour last August.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Albert's father had been against his son's enlistment:
"Why would I take him from war for him to go back into war?" he said.
But he gradually came to accept it and had a moment of pride when his son came home this summer in between duty in his decorated uniform, buffed up and more disciplined.
"Daddy, I'm a sergeant now," Thomas Ware remembered Albert saying.
On December 18th, Sergeant Ware was in a military vehicle in the Arghandab River Valley of Afghanistan. Enemy forces used an improvised explosive device to blow up the vehicle. The 27-year-old US Army infantryman was killed in the incident.
According to NBC Chicago News site:
His mother, father and sister said they'd just spoke to Ware the night before he died. Always generous, the family said Ware was making plans with his father to buy her a gift in his absence.
"I said, 'OK, call me tomorrow,' which was Friday. And that was the call that I got, which was four guys coming to tell me my son is dead," his father, Thomas Ware, recalled.
"He spoke to each one of us, and we shared our love. It was a normal conversation. I was trying to get from him a list of what his unit needed, because my job wanted to send him a care package," added his mother, Anna Ware.
Besides his parents, Sergeant Albert D. Ware leaves behind a wife, Plichette, and three children, T'john, Heaven and Musu. He also is survived by a sister, Ciatta. Funeral arrangements have not been made.
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Private First Class Serge Kropov
Serge Kropov was born in Moscow, Russia. He came to the US and lived in a small town called Hawley, which is a borough in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Marine Corps, and had served in Iraq before going to Afghanistan with the Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California.
On December 20th, Private First Class Serge Kropov died as a result of a non-hostile incident in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The incident is under investigation. He was 21 years old.
Some who knew the Private have paid tribute to him on FaceBook and other places online. Below is one of the comments left on the War on Terror News site:
He was an amazing person,he will be missed
Private First Class Serge Kropov is survived by his parents, Igor and Allison (Alevtina) Kropov and a sister, Anna.
Funeral arrangements for Private First Class Serge Kropov will be held with full military honors on December 30th at the Monastery Church of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. His Grace, Bishop Tikhon will be officiating. Interment will follow in the Monastery Cemetery. May Private Kropov rest in eternal peace.
[The section on Private Kropov was updated with new information posted Sunday morning and linked by operculum in the comments below]
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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.