A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time - Mark Twain
Tonight we pay tribute to four men who lived fully, although they died much too young. The four soldiers were:
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Corporal Michael L. Mayne from New York
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Specialist Micheal B. Alleman from Utah
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Private First Class Zachary R. Nordmeyer from Indiana
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Sergeant Stanley E. Baylor from New York
The first three Army men died February 23rd in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from small arms fire. They were assigned to the 5th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
The Associated Press reported three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed during fighting on February 23rd in the volatile Diyala province, but released no other details. The Army later stated that as the mens' patrol neared a bunker, they were fired upon.
The US Department of Defense (DOD) reported that the three Strykers and their interpreter were killed by insurgents about 70 miles north of Baghdad.
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Corporal Michael L. Mayne
Micheal Mayne was an Eagle Scout, and played football, basketball, and golf in high school. He also participated in the ski club and was with the rifle team. He graduated from Edmeston Central School in 2006, and joined the Army one month later.
He had been thinking of going into criminal justice, and getting a job with the federal government when he got out of the Army.
Mayne was a cavalry scout who served at Fort Wainwright, Alaska since December 2006. His brigade deployed to Diyala province in Iraq last fall for a year-long tour of duty.
The 21-year-old from Burlington Flats, New York was killed during combat northeast of Baghdad on February 23rd. He had been in Iraq since October.
According to a story in the Daily Star Mayne was the first service member from Otsego County to die in Iraq, and the family was devastated:
Mayne had a large, extended family, and the school is small, with only about 40 students graduating in 2006...
Lee Mayne said his son enjoyed the Army.
"That was his life," Mayne said. "I'm proud of everything my son has ever done. He was a No. 1 kid."
Another article in The Daily Startalked about how the very flags Mayne had erected were being flown at half-staff for him:
To become an Eagle Scout, he decided to set out poles and fly flags for every branch of the United States' military services on the green near his house in Burlington Flats.
In May 2003, during a Memorial Day service, Mayne unveiled his Eagle project, with flags for the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force and Merchant Marines centered on an American flag.
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Katelyn Hoyt, a 2004 graduate of Edmeston Central School, remembered Mayne as "always smiling, with a look in his eyes so you weren't sure what he was thinking. Then his smile would gave it away."
Corporal Michael L. Mayne is survived by his father, Lee Mayne, his mother, Cathy, and an older sister, Sherry. The Patriot Guard Riders will help to honor him at his funeral.
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Specialist Micheal B. Alleman
Micheal Alleman was raised in Georgia and Idaho. He graduated from Utah State with a degree in elementary education. He had been an elementary school teacher near Logan, Utah in the Cache Valley. Alleman quit his teaching job to join the Army. His parents have lived in American Fork for about 10 years. His wife and sons moved in with his parents when he was sent to Iraq.
Specialist Alleman was with the 5th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He was a member of the 51st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which was deployed in September for a 12-month tour in Iraq.
The Salt Lake Tribute reports the reaction of Alleman's former students and local residents to the news of his death:
It was the middle of the school year, and the popular fifth-grade teacher was leaving his career as an educator to join the Army. He told the class he wanted to be like the nation's first president, who left his career as a Virginia planter to take up arms against the British monarchy.
"He said that George Washington was his hero," said Samantha Larkin, 11, a student in Alleman's class at Nibley Elementary School in Cache County, last year. "But it was a little bit confusing to us."
On Tuesday, Alleman's former students were among those in several Utah communities coming to terms with a revelation that was even more difficult to accept:
The teacher-turned-soldier had been killed in Iraq.
Specialist Alleman had recently begun his year-long tour in Iraq, and he had just turned 32 in January. According to a story on KSL news:
Tuesday evening, U.S. flags surround Alleman's parents' home in American Fork. His wife said she last communicated with him over the Internet on Saturday night, sending him pictures of their son's birthday party.
"We were chatting online. I actually sent him the e-mail saying, ‘I just sent those pictures to you.' And he texted me back and said, ‘We have two beautiful boys, don't we?' And I said, ‘Yes we do.' And that's the last I heard from him," Amy Alleman said.
Alleman, whose parents, Boyd and Susan Alleman, live in American Fork, is survived by his wife, Amy, and their two sons, Kai, 6, and Kennet, 4. An article in the Deseret News has pictures of the family and a heart-breaking story.
Funeral arrangements for Specialist Alleman are still being finalized. There will be a remembrance service at Fort Wainwright, Alaska for Alleman and for the other two soldiers who died in the firefight with him.
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Private First Class Zachary R. Nordmeyer
Zachary Nordmeyer was a 2007 graduate of Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. He was a member of the school Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), which provides military instruction and joined the Army upon graduation.
Nordmeyer was an infantryman assigned to Fort Wainwright in 2007, the same year he graduated.
Private First Class Zachary R. Nordmeyer's name becomes the 18th added to a permanent memorial in honor of former students from Ben Davis High School who have died while serving in the armed forces.
Zachary’s grandfather was quoted by MSNBC News:
"He died doing what he wanted to do. He was very proud of his country, his uniform, his unit," said Paul Nordmeyer.
The 21-year-old from Ben Davis was part of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team. On Monday his unit raided a village of insurgent Al Qaeda in Balad, Iraq.
Commanders tell the family Zachary fought to the end as armed men opened fire from behind a door.
WISH TV News talked with Zachary’s father, Michael:
A flag with a gold star now hangs in the family's front window. It's the sign of a fallen soldier who once lived there. It's also a reminder that Private First Class Zachary Nordmeyer will forever be remembered.
"As a hero, as a good friend to anybody. He'd go out of the way to help anybody," Michael said...
School officials will now read Zach's name at every home football game, along with the names of the other fallen veterans who once attended the school
Zachary Nordmeyer was scheduled to come home in October and get married. He leaves behind a fiancé, two brothers who still attend Ben Davis High School and his father Michael.
Funeral arrangements are pending, however, the Patriot Guard Riders will help to honor Private First Class Zachary R. Nordmeyer at the services.
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The fourth soldier we are honoring tonight was lost in North Korea, far from his home in New York. His remains were identified through the continuing efforts of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). The name of Stanley E. Baylor is included in the beautifully-crafted JPAC posterfor 2007-2008. Additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans can be found at the DPMO Web site.
Sergeant Stanley E. Baylor
Stanley E. Baylor was listed by the DOD as being from Monroe, New York. The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced that the remains of Sergeant Stanley E. Baylor, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family.
Representatives from the Army’s Mortuary Office met with Baylor’s next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.
The Battle of Unsan, which was one of the most devastating U.S. loses of the Korean War, broke out on the morning of Nov. 1, 1950. Baylor was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On Nov. 1, 1950, the 8th Cavalry was occupying a defensive position within 50 miles of the Chinese border near Unsan, North Korea (the general area of the battle is shown by the star in the map below). The area is known as the "Camel’s Head". Elements of two Chinese Communist Forces divisions struck the 1st Cavalry Division’s lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. Chinese soldiers lit numerous forest fires, and the dense smoke masked their movements.
U.S. commanders issued an order to withdraw, but all routes were cut off. The 3rd Battalion was completely isolated by enemy forces. The men desperately fought off a swarming enemy. Rations were scarce and only provided to the wounded. Ammo was at critical levels -- so low that troops were forced to forage for weapons among the enemy dead.
The 3rd Battalion was surrounded and effectively ceased to exist as a fighting unit. Corporal Baylor was reported missing on Nov. 2, 1950, and was one of the more than 350 servicemen unaccounted-for from the battle at Unsan. He was given the rank of Sergeant posthumously.
Between 1991-94, North Korea gave the U.S. 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. Accompanying North Korean documents indicated that some of the remains were exhumed near Chonsung-Ri, Unsan County. This location correlates with Baylor’s last known location.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of Baylor’s remains, which were turned over in 1993.
The remains of Baylor, among others, were honored by the Joint Service Color Guard and senior military representatives during the JPAC repatriation ceremony when they were returned to the US. His funeral, with full military honors, will be held on August 1st in Warsaw, New York.
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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 troops. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, noweasels, greenies, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, SpamNunn, a girl in MI, JeNoCo and Mediaprof. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but an important service to those Americans who have died and to our community’s respect for and remembrance of them. If you would like to volunteer, even once a month, please contact me, Sis.
Fallen service members whose names have been released by the 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.