Tonight, we have three soldiers and one marine to remember. Since 2001, there have been 1282 American troops killed in Afghanistan. Since 2003, there have been 4421 troops killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and 4 in Operation New Dawn. Please take a moment to honor their sacrific
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.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Joshua A. Harton, 23, of Bethlehem, Penn., died Sept. 18 in Kaftar Khan, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
He was fiercely loyal to his family, friends and country.
Early Sunday morning, Ruth Harton peered out the window to see who rang the doorbell, she saw two soldiers waiting to greet her.
"We already knew," she said. "No one else comes to the door like that. As soon as I saw the uniforms, I knew."
She told the Lehigh Valley Morning Call, her son had recently been home in August. He planned on being in law enforcement when he finished his service with the Army.
"He wasn't a flag-waving patriot," his mother said, "but he was there to do his duty. It wasn't because of king and country, it was because he knew it was right."
Harton was killed on Saturday, when his unit returned from their patrol and encountered enemy fire. He was the only casualty. His mother told the news:
"He usually does the big guns on the turrets, on the armored vehicles," she said. "He's usually in the rear, usually the go-to guy. Either he got jumped and had no time to react or he reacted and because he did, his squad was OK. That would make sense to me, because that was Josh. He's protecting their back."
Funeral services will be private. Josh loved English Bulldogs. His mother asked donations to be made in his honor to bulldog rescue groups or the Lehigh County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Rest in peace, Spc. Joshua Harton.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, 22, of Mesa, Ariz., died Sept. 18 of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked her unit using an improvised explosive device and rocket propelled grenade fire in Kunar province, Afghanistan. She was assigned to the 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.
Pfc. Barbara Vieyra with her mother and daughter - family photo.
Barbara Vieyra grew up in Mesa, Arizona. She was a 2006 graduate of Skyline High School and a college graduate. She was a mother and an expert marksman. She was based out of Fort Hood and served one tour of duty in Korea before being deployed to Afghanistan.
Her father is a ranch hand for C-Bar Dairy. The owner, Barbara Feenstra, spoke with the Arizona Republic. She expressed the family and ranch is devastated about Pfc. Vieyra. The family is in Delaware to greet her body.
"We're just grieving along with them," Feenstra said. "She was a hero who gave her life for her country, the ultimate sacrifice."
She added:
"They're just a very close family," Feenstra said. "And now she's not here anymore. This is a great family, solid as rocks. We had a chance to talk to them Saturday. It just devastated the family."
Vieyra's My Space had this recent comment:
I ask myself day after day why things happen the way they happen...The only answer I tell myself is "god puts challenges infront of us for a reason. Possibly to make us stronger who knows...
Pfc. Barbara Vieyra leaves behind her baby daughter and parents.
DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
1st Lt. Scott J. Fleming, 24, of Marietta, Ga., died Sept. 17 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
From the AJC:
Scott Fleming talked to his family in Georgia – father Joseph, mother Joanne; and younger sister, Andrea – several weeks ago and told them “things were looking good” in Afghanistan. Yet in an e-mail a week ago he wrote about the fight on a recent mission during which his and other platoons engaged the Taliban.
“There were casualties and he was responsible for calling in medevacs,” Joseph Fleming said. “He says ‘next week my platoon is going back into that area and everything should go fine and if not everything will be fine.’
“And it wasn’t,” Joseph Fleming said.
Scott's parents were on their way down to Florida for a vacation. They had stopped for a bite to eat, when the cell phone rang. It was from the Marines and they delivered the dreaded news: “I regret to inform you that Lt. Scott Fleming was killed in action," said the caller.
“I heard that statement from the captain all night long,” the grieving father said from his home in Marietta.
“We’re still numb,” he said of his wife, their daughter and their daughter-in-law who is in Hawaii. “This just happened yesterday. He was with a support team of Marines.”
Scott made his decision to enlist with the Marines while he was a sophomore in high school. The events of 9-11 impacted his life and he chose to serve and protect. He graduated from La Grange College with a degree in education. His wife and daughter live in Hawaii, where Fleming was based.
Semper Fi, 1st Lt. Scott J. Fleming.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. 1st Class Ronald A. Grider, 30, Brighton, Ill., died Sept. 18 at Kunduz province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was struck by machine gun fire. He was assigned to U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Soldier killed on his 30th Birthday - was on his 9th Tour of Duty
Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Grider is being remembered for always putting others before himself. Classmates told
ABC local WDTV news:
"He had a great smile. Even if you were in a bad mood, he would be one person who could put you in an excellent mood," said former classmate Shanna Combes.
"Just a fun kid to be around, fun in class. He'd run by and give you a hug for no reason and then take off running," offered former science teacher and track coach Frank Grasier.
Ronald Grider's step-mother told the STL Today:
"He was just loved by everybody," said his stepmother, Virginia Grider.
Grider served an impressive and highly decorated 12 year career with the Army. Sgt. Grider had served with the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg and the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga. He served one tour in Afghanistan and three in Iraq with the Rangers.
In November 2005, Grider went into the United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C. He served four times to Iraq and once more to Afghanistan with Special Ops.
Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Grider earned the following awards and decorations: two Bronze Star Medals, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device, three Army Commendation Medals , five Army Achievement Medals, Army Good Conduct Medal (fourth award), National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the Iraq Campaign Medal with six Bronze Service Stars, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with numeral three, Army Service Ribbon, Ranger Tab, Sapper Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, Military Free Fall Parachutist Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, and five Overseas Service Bars and the Valorous Unit Award.
SFC. Grider was posthumously awarded his third Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. He is survived by his wife, Brittany, daughter, Katie Anne, and parents.
Rest in peace, Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Grider.
We Remember Them
In the rising of the sun and its going down,
We Remember Them.
In the bowing of the wind and in the chill of winter,
We Remember Them.
In the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring.
We Remember Them.
In the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer,
We Remember Them.
In the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn.
We Remember Them.
In the beginning of the year and when it ends,
We Remember Them.
When we are weary and in need of strength,
We Remember Them.
When we are lost and sick of heart,
We Remember Them.
When we have joys and special celebrations we yearn to share,
We Remember Them.
So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are part of us.
We Remember Them.
~From the Jewish Book Of Prayer~
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor, respect and remind. 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.
All of the U.S. fatalities can be seen here and here. They all had loved ones, families and friends. The DoD news releases are here. I Got the News Today is intended to honor, respect and remind. Click the IGTNT tags below for previous diaries.
Click the IGTNT tags to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by monkeybiz, noweasels, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, a girl in MI, Spam Nunn, JeNoCo, Janos Nation, True Blue Majority, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Ms Wings, and me, Sandy on Signal.
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.