While two sets of family and friends bid goodbye to their loved ones, some others are welcoming home the remains of men who have been MIA for decades. The two recent casualties are both US Army men:
- US Army Corporal Michael D. Jankiewicz from New Jersey
- US Army Specialist Joseph T. Caron from Washington
The MIAs are:
- US Army Specialist Thomas Rice, Jr
- US Army Corporal Stanley P. Arendt
Corporal Michael D. Jankiewicz
Michael D. Jankiewicz was from Ramsey, New Jersey. He graduated from Ramsey High School in 2006 and enlisted. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, which is based at Fort Benning, Georgia. Corporal Jankiewicz had just left for his second tour of Afghanistan in March, after having served twice in Iraq.
On April 9th, the 23-year-old Army Ranger was riding in a US Air Force CV-22 Osprey. The tilt-rotor aircraft crashed in Afghanistan’s Zabul Province, about 200 miles southwest of Kabul. Air Force Major Voas, and Senior Master Sergeant Lackey were also killed in the crash. They were honored in a recent diary. A civilian contractor was also killed in this, the first crash of an Osprey within a combat zone.
According to a North Jersey news site, which quotes the Corporal's sister:
"He once told my mother that if anything happened to him at least he would be doing what he loved," Michelle Jankiewicz said.
She said an Army buddy is bringing "Hans," Michael’s German shepherd, home to Ramsey from Fort Benning, Ga. "He always wanted a German Shepherd ... he had a stuffed German Shepherd as a youngster, and finally got a real one he named Hans six months ago," Michelle said.
Among the survivors of Corporal Michael D. Jankiewicz are his parents and his sister Michelle.
Corporal Michael Jankiewicz will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The Patriot Guard Riders will be attending. Hundreds assembled in New Jersey to honor his homecoming.
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Specialist Joseph T. Caron
Joseph T. Caron grew up in Tacoma, Washington. He was a 2007 graduate of Washington High School. He joined the Army in August of 2007, and attended airborne school at Fort Benning.
Caron was sent to Afghanistan in September on his first deployment. He was a paratrooper with the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
An uncle of the Specialist is quoted in a story at the KOMO News site:
"Very strong, very stubborn kid, very outspoken, not afraid to crack a joke. Loved his family, loved his friends," said uncle Patrick Caron. "If he would have had it his way, he would have gone down fighting."...
"My brother called the house phone, and I just had a feeling before I even picked up the phone," said Patrick Caron. "You get to talk to him, you hear from him, then you go on about your day. And you think to yourself, 'He'll be fine. Strong boy, good soldier, he'll be fine.' And then when it happens...what do you do? It just kind of takes the breath out of you."
Specialist Joseph Caron was killed April 11, while on patrol in the Arghandab River Valley in Kandahar Province. He died of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near his vehicle in Char Bagh, Afghanistan. He was 21 years old.
Specialist Caron's survivors include his father, Jeffrey Caron; his mother, Tani Hubbard; stepmother, Karen Caron; sister, Cassandra Caron; and brother Josh Caron.
Washington Governor Christine Gregoire directed that flags at all Washington state agency facilities be lowered to half-staff today in memory of US Army Specialist Joseph T. Caron.
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US Army Specialist Thomas Rice, Jr
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced that the remains of Specialist Thomas Rice, Jr, of Spartanburg, South Carolina and three other US servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
A group burial was held recently at Arlington National for Specialist Rice; US Army Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth L. Stancil of Chattanooga, Tennesse; Chief Warrant Officer Jesse D. Phelps of Boise, Idaho; and Specialist Donald C. Grella from Laurel, Nebraska. Rice’s individual remains burial was held April 9th at Arlington National Cemetery. Stancil, Phelps and Grella were buried individually last year.
The men were aboard a UH-1D Huey helicopter that failed to return from a mission over Gia Lai Province, South Vietnam to pick up Special Forces soldiers in December of 1965. Search and rescue operations were suspended after failing to locate the men after four days.
From 1993-2005, joint US-Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command attempted unsuccessfully to locate the site. However, in April 2006, a joint team interviewed two local villagers, one of whom said he had shot down a US helicopter in 1965.
The villagers escorted the team to the crash site, where wreckage was found. In March 2009, another joint team excavated the area and recovered human remains and other artifacts. JPAC's scientists employed traditional forensic techniques in making these identifications, including comparisons of dental records with the remains found at the site.
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US Army Corporal Stanley P. Arendt
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced that the remains of US Army Corporal Stanley P. Arendt, missing in action from the Korean War, were identified and returned to his family. Corporal Arendt was buried on March 29th in Palatine, Illinois.
In early November 1950, Arendt was assigned to the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division occupying a defensive position near the town of Unsan in the bend of the Kuryong River known as the "Camel’s Head." Arendt’s unit was involved in heavy fighting which devolved into hand-to-hand combat around their command post. Almost 400 men of the 8th Cavalry Regiment were reported missing in action or killed in action from the battle at Unsan.
In late November 1950, a US soldier captured during the battle of Unsan reported during his debriefing that he and nine other American soldiers were moved to a house near the battlefield. The POWs were taken to an adjacent field and shot. Three of the ten Americans survived, though one later died. He provided detailed information on the location of the incident and the identities of the other soldiers. Following the armistice in 1953 and the release of POWs, the other surviving soldier confirmed the details provided in 1950.
In May 2004, a joint US-North Korean team excavated a mass grave near the "Camel’s Head" after receiving a report that an elderly North Korean national had witnessed the death of seven or eight US soldiers near that location and provided the team with a general description of the burial site.
The excavation team recovered human remains and other personal artifacts, ultimately leading to the identification of seven soldiers from that site. Among the forensic techniques used in the identifications by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command was that of mitochondrial DNA, five samples of which matched the DNA of Arendt’s brother.
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