Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality. ~Emily Dickinson
I Got the News Today (IGTNT) is a diary series intended to honor service members who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one.
The beautiful forget-me-nots were created by llbear.
Tonight we honor:
Lance Cpl. Ronald D. Freeman, 25, of Plant City, Fla.
Sgt. Matthew D. Hermanson, 22, of Appleton, Wis.
Spc. Preston J. Dennis, 23, of Redding, Calif.
Pfc. Jonathan M. Villanueva, 19, of Jacksonville, Fla.
Since 2003 there have been 4452 US casualties in Iraq and since 2001 there have been 1566 US casualties in Afghanistan. Source.
Lance Cpl. Ronald D. Freeman, 25, of Plant City, Fla., died April 28, 2011 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Freeman was a combat engineer assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine
Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. He joined the Marine Corps
in September 2008 and was promoted to lance corporal Nov. 1, 2009.
Freeman deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in March 2011.
His awards include the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
He is survived by his wife and child.
Source.
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Army Sgt. Matthew D. Hermanson was just over a week away from celebrating his first wedding anniversary when he was killed while serving in Afghanistan.
"He was a good guy. He cared a lot about other people. He cared a lot about my sister," Rachel's sister, Daisy Younger, 22, of Elkhorn, told The Post-Crescent Saturday night.
"He would always make sure she was OK and he would send her flowers to just tell her how much he loved her. He would send her gifts. He was just a really caring guy. He would ask even her family how we were doing."
Rev. Donald Younger, the soldier's father-in-law, said Hermanson spent a lot of time hunting and fishing. Hermanson had recently been notified that he was being promoted to staff sergeant, Younger said, and he was expected to come home for a two-week visit on May 20.
"He was very respected by the men of his company," Younger, of Elkhorn, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Even now, we're getting flowers; we're getting cards from the men in his company who are still in Iraq."
His parents are Jeffrey and Sandy Hermanson of Appleton; his brothers are Nathan and Joshua. He graduated in 2006 from Appleton North High School.
Source.
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Army Spc. Preston Dennis died Thursday in Kandahar province from wounds he suffered when his unit was attacked by an improvised explosive device.
Dennis was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, N.Y.
He graduated from Modoc High School in Alturas, where he played baseball and soccer, his mother Maria Mix said.
Afterward Preston Dennis attended College of the Siskiyous, where he was elected student body president and joined the school's snowboard team, she said. He joined the military shortly after that.
At the time of his death, Dennis was on his second tour in Afghanistan as a squad leader after only nine months at home, Maria Mix said.
He chose to forfeit the rest of his time at home out of dedication to his unit, she said.
"He refused to stay behind and let his squad go without him," Maria Mix said. "He said, 'Mom I can't let my guys go without me.'"
Dennis is survived by his mother Maria Mix, her husband and retired Modoc County Sheriff Bruce Mix, wife Heather Dennis and sisters Angie and Amanda Dennis, all from the Redding area.
Source.
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Thank you JaxDem for your beautiful tribute to Pfc Jonathan M. Villaneuva.
Pfc Jonathan M. Villanueva, 19 of Jacksonville, Florida
Jonathan Villanueva was a 2010 graduate of Englewood High School after first having attended Alfred I Du Pont Middle School and Wolfson High School. Jonathan was enrolled in JROTC at Englewood.
Last year when he didn’t have the credits needed to graduate, he persevered in summer school and finally earned the necessary credits there according to his former guidance counselor, Lucy Brown who described Jonathan as a sweet, quiet young man.
I was just so proud of him to do it.
Jonathan’s sister said that the family was too grief stricken to make any statements and are finalizing funeral arrangements. However, his father, Diego Villanueva called his son a “true hero” who aspired to be in the military since he was a boy.
Diego went on to say his son was a natural investigator who loved to learn about any topic.
A neighbor, Luis Panameno recalled how Villanueva would run laps in his subdivision to stay in good physical shape.
He was really looking forward to going into the military. This was his idea forever.
He added that Pfc Villanueva was following in the path of an older brother who also serves in the military.
The Villanueva family wanted to express their gratitude to the U.S. Army and added that the military members helping the family through this tragedy have been an important source of support.
The Army has awarded Pfc Jonathan M. Villanueva the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals. He also has received the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the NATO Medal.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Pfc Jonathan M. Villanueva is survived by his parents and siblings.
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Click here to read the series as begun by i dunno, and is currently maintained by Sandy on Signal, noweasels, monkeybiz, 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, CalNM, Wide Awake in KY, maggiejean, racheltracks, kestrel 9000, JaxDem, and Cathy.
If you would like to contribute to the series, even once a month, please contact Sandy on Signal or noweasels.
To see what these tributes mean to those who have lost a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan, please read Sandy on Signal’s story about meeting the father of a soldier at NN10.
The IGTNT logo was created by Timroff.
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.