Since 2001, 1399 U.S. troops have lost their lives while serving in Afghanistan, and since 2003, 4436 U.S. troops have died while serving in Iraq. The IGTNT (I Got The News Today) series is a reminder that nearly every day, somebody gets the heartbreaking news that a friend, former classmate, or beloved family member will not be coming home from war.
Tonight we remember 12 lives lost at war: 11 returning
from WWII; one a decorated soldier killed in Afghanistan:
Spc. Nathan B. Carse, 32, of Harrod, Ohio
Please take a moment below to remember them,
and all those who have lost their lives in these wars.
Spc. Nathan B. Carse, 32, of Harrod, Ohio
Spc. Carse died February 8 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device. He was a Combat Engineer assigned to the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 176th Engineer Brigade, based at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
Nathan Carse grew up in Harrod, in northwest Ohio. His father served in the Army as a Green Beret. He is survived by his mother, two sisters, and his nephews.
Update: Thanks to beantown mom in comments with details from the local news, from Carse's sister:
Nathan Carse had no children of his own, but he loved his nephews-
"The first thing he always asked about was his nephews, it was the first thing. He loved them very dearly."
Nathan graduated from Allen East in 1997, but did not join the Army right out of high school. He went to college and received a bachelor's degree in environmental sciences from Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. After that, he earned a master's degree in civil engineering from Louisiana State University.
His sister Kristin said her brother was working in the engineering field in Louisiana. But he recently told the family, he wanted to take his life in a “different route.”
Last year Spc. Carse completed basic training Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and came on active duty with the Army in February 2010 at White Sands Missile Range. He deployed to Afghanistan in September with the 2nd Engineer Battalion, the most forward deployed engineers in the U.S. Army. Combat Engineers, called "Sappers" often have the dangerous job of clearing land mines ahead of other troops.
Before his death, Spc. Carse had already received numerous awards for exemplary service in his short Army career. He will be posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, a Purple Heart Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the Combat Action Badge.
Among those Spc. Carse leaves behind are his mother, his sisters and his nephews, and his fellow combat engineers.
Spc. Nathan Carse is missed. May He Rest In Peace.
Source Source Source Source
+ * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * +
Eleven Airmen Missing in Action From WWII Identified and Returned Home
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced that the remains of 11 U.S. Army Air Forces crewmen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified. Now they are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
1st Lt. Richard T. Heuss, 23, Berkley, Michigan
2nd Lt. Robert A. Miller, 22, Memphis, Tennessee
2nd Lt. Edward R. French, 23, Erie, Pennsylvania
2nd Lt. Robert R. Streckenbach, Jr., 21, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Tech. Sgt. Lucian I. Oliver, Jr., 23 Memphis, Tennessee
Tech. Sgt. Charles A. Bode, 23, Baltimore, MD
Staff Sgt. Ivan O. Kirkpatrick, 36, Whittier, California
Staff Sgt. William K. Musgrave, 24, Hutsonville, Illinois
Staff Sgt. James T. Moran, 21, Sloatsburg, New York
Staff Sgt. James B. Moore, 21, Woburn, Massachusetts
Staff Sgt. Roy Surabian, 24, Medford, Massachusetts
On November 20, 1943, the B-24D Liberator crew members departed from Jackson Airfield, Port Moresby, New Guinea. The eleven Army Air Forces crewmembers had embarked on an over water mission near the northern coast of the country. But they never returned.
According to the Department of Defense, subsequent searches failed to uncover any evidence of either the crew or the aircraft. The Army Graves Registration Service conducted investigations and searches for 43 missing airmen including the 11 airmen, but concluded in June 1949 that all were unrecoverable.
Thirty-five years later, the government of Papua New Guinea reported the discovery of a World War II crash site in a ravine in Morobe Province. A U.S. search and recovery team investigated the crash site in 1984 and located B-24 aircraft wreckage and recovered human remains.
From that time until 2004, multiple teams from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) attempted to access and excavate the location. But each time, the threat of landslides made recovery too dangerous to continue.
During a site visit in 2004, local villagers turned over human remains they had previously removed from the area. Now all of the recovered remains have been returned to the USA.
The eleven missing World War II Army Air Forces crewmen have finally come home to their loved ones.
May They Rest in Peace.
Source Source
+ * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * +
* * *
Photos Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Thanks to Timroff for our faithfully lighted candle IGTNT logo;
Other Photos by CalNM and linked Sources
Helping our troops: If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider Operation Helmet, or sponsoring a deployed service member at TroopCarePackage.com. Fisher House provides housing for families of injured troops and veterans who are recovering in hospitals, and Guardian angels for soldierspet assists the animal companions of our deployed military.
When our veterans come back home, they can find support at Welcome Back Veterans. Our recently returned veterans need jobs, and Veterans Green Jobs is now hiring for positions and filling training sessions. VGJ corps retrains veterans as leaders in forest and resource conservation, green construction, and energy efficient upgrades of homes in rural areas. Encourage a Veteran, and see if you can help out.
+ * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * + * * * +
About the IGTNT series: I Got the News Today is intended to honor, respect, and remember the fallen, and to remind us that each casualty has family and friends who received the terrible news that their loved one has died at war.
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 US Department of Defense news releases are found at defense gov/releases. Icasualties lists the names of those killed, and shows the number of wounded. Published AP photos of the returning war fatalities are found on the Dover AFB page. Click the IGTNT tags below for previous diaries in 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, Proud Mom and Grandma, Sandy on Signal, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Ms Wings, maggiejean, racheltracks, ccasas, JaxDem, and me, CalNM. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but are an important service to those who have died, and show our community’s respect for our fallen brothers and sisters.
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.