The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
- A.E. Housman
Please join us tonight, as we welcome home five more American heroes, who gave their country their last full measure this week - young athletes, community role models, brothers, sons, husbands, friends and soldiers.
Pfc. Charles A. Williams
Pfc. Charles A. Williams, 29, of Fair Oaks, Calif., died Feb. 7 at Camp Nathan Smith, Afghanistan, of non-combat related injuries sustained while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 97th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, Fort Riley, Kansas.
http://www.defense.gov/...
Pfc. Williams was posthumously promoted to the rank of specialist.
Williams, 29, was an automation technician with the 97th Military Police Battalion. He joined the Army last April and arrived at Fort Riley in December. He was serving his first deployment when he died at Camp Nathan Smith in Afghanistan.
Military officials did not elaborate on how he sustained the injuries. Family members declined to be interviewed through a church deacon.
http://sacramentocommunity.net/...
A funeral mass and presentation of Military Awards will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, February 26th, at Holy Family Catholic Church at 7817 Old Auburn Road in Citrus Heights, CA. A burial service with full military honors will follow at Fair Oaks District Cemetery at 7780 Olive Street in Fair Oaks.
**************************************************************************
Pfc. Kyle "Joe" Coutu
Pfc. Kyle J. Coutu, 20, of Providence, R.I., died Feb. 18 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
http://www.defense.gov/...
Kyle "Joe" Coutu, of Pawtucket, was 20 years old. A three sport athlete - football, wrestling, and hockey - he graduated from Tolman High School in Pawtucket in June. His aunt described him as the "Mayor of Tolman" because he was everybody's friend at Tolman High School in Pawtucket.
She said Kyle's mom is on her way to get his body in Delaware with his uncle and grandparents. [snip] An American flag was in the yard, yellow ribbons on the railings at his mother's home in Providence. His aunt told us, Kyle "Joe," an only child, enlisted one week after high school graduation. His friends are distraught about his death. Coutu got engaged around Thanksgiving.
http://www.necn.com/...
Kyle "Joe" Couto, in happier times
The death of Pfc. Kyle J. Coutu was also reported on February 19th. This brave soldier was previously diaried by aaraujo, here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
**************************************************************************
Lance Cpl. Larry M. Johnson
Lance Cpl. Larry M. Johnson, 19, of Scranton, Pa., died Feb. 18 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
http://www.defense.gov/...
Larry Johnson was a 2008 graduate of Scranton High School. Bryan McGraw, who was principal at the high school in 2008, recalled Cpl. Johnson as a "good" and "polite" person who was proud to serve his country.
"He always wanted to better himself, and he did that by serving his country," said Mr. McGraw, who is now director of secondary education at Delaware Valley School District. "It's sad. I remember his smile and he was very friendly to me as a principal."
http://thetimes-tribune.com/...
Jennifer Brotherton remembers former student Larry M. Johnson as a good-natured kid who almost always had a smile on his face.
When the Scranton High School teacher heard Friday the 19-year-old 2008 graduate was killed while serving with the Marines in Afghanistan, she was shocked. "He had a really good heart and he was so full of energy," said Ms. Brotherton, who was Lance Cpl. Johnson's English teacher in 2006-2007.
"Any time a child dies, it's too soon," she added.
**************************************************************************
Lance Cpl. Kielin Dunn
Lance Cpl. Kielin T. Dunn, 19, of Chesapeake, Va., died Feb. 18 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
http://www.defense.gov/...
During the summer of 2008, the staff at Virginia Beach's Seton Youth Shelter got a call from a young man in need of help. Something had gone wrong at home, Kielin T. Dunn told them, and he needed a place to stay. He wasn't a runaway, troublemaker or wayward teen, said David Mount, the shelter's director of street outreach programs. He had a plan: Graduate and join the Marine Corps. He just needed some help to get there.
So the shelter provided a bed, food and clothing. A few months later, in August 2008, Dunn graduated early from Chesapeake's Western Branch High School. The next day, he left for boot camp, Mount said. But he kept in touch with the Seton Youth Shelter, visiting during holidays and calling in December to let his shelter family know he'd be deploying to Afghanistan.
Mount received another kind of call Friday night. Dunn, a 19-year-old lance corporal in the Marine Corps, had been killed Thursday during combat operations in Afghanistan's Helmand province. "It was a blow," Mount said. Dunn, originally from Chesapeake, had been a role model to the children and teens at the shelter, Mount said. "He was an inspiration to the residents here," he said. "He inspired them and gave them hope that they could actually overcome their life challenges."
http://hamptonroads.com/...
"He truly was a remarkable person," said his friend, David Mount. Friends say that's the only way you can describe Dunn. He lived for protecting his country and Thursday he died doing the same thing.
"Every person that serves in our armed forces is my hero," Mount added. "They're serving to preserve our personal freedoms that we have become accustomed to." Dunn graduated from Western Branch High School in 2008. The very next day he was off to boot camp. A short time later, the Marine deployed to Afghanistan.
"His demeanor and his tone was confident and resolved," Mount said.
http://www.wavy.com/...
**************************************************************************
Pfc. Eric Currier
The death of Pfc. Eric D. Currier, 21, of Londonderry, N.H., who died Feb. 17 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan while with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.
http://www.defense.gov/...
Eric Currier loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing and his large, close-knit family; he adored his wife, Kaila. The two met as teenagers several years ago while canoeing on the Saco River, his aunt Wendy Currier said. "She was with her family and he was with his," she recalled. "He came home and told me about her and said ... 'She's perfect.'"
They were devoted to each other ever after, and last year when he shipped out to Camp Lejeune, N.C., Kaila went with him. There, in September, "They went to the town hall and they got married," his aunt said. "He couldn't get the time off to have the wedding that they wanted. They were going to have it next year and they were going to start a family after he came home."
The Marine's family has asked for privacy as they deal with their grief.
http://www.unionleader.com/...
Eric Currier was a 2006 graduate of Londonderry High School's Adult Education Program, a night-school program designed to help students complete their high school education. Londonderry High School Principal Jason Parent was head of the program when Eric was a student.
Special bonds form between teachers and parents in the after-school program, Parent said, because often the students who are enrolled put in extra effort and study time to attain their diploma.
Parent said he continued to follow Eric's progress after he had graduated.
"Our teachers got to know Eric very well through the program," Parent said. "He wanted to be a U.S. Marine even then, and we were all very proud of what he had accomplished."
http://www.unionleader.com/...
Eric Currier with his Mom and sister, Cassie, in happier times
What is excellent,
as God lives, is permanent.
Hearts turn to dust,
hearts love remains.
Hearts love will meet the again.
- Emerson
God Bless these heroes, and those they leave behind.
About "I Got the News Today" (IGTNT)
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor service members who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; 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. The series, which was begun by i dunno, is maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, noweasels, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, a girl in MI, Spam Nunn, JeNoCo, Janos Nation, True Blue Majority, Proud Mom and Grandma and CalNM.
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.
If that's not clear, read this: http://www.dailykos.com/...