Since 2001, 1542 U.S. troops have lost their lives while serving in Afghanistan, and since 2003, 4462 U.S. troops have lost their lives 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 three soldiers killed in action far from home:
Pvt. Ryan J. Larson, 19, of Friendship, Wisconsin
Staff Sgt. Nicholas P. Bellard, 26, of El Paso, Texas
Sgt. Glenn M. Sewell, 23, of Live Oak, Texas
Please take a moment below to remember them,
and all those who have lost their lives in these wars.
As the war in Afghanistan continues in its tenth year, another young soldier has lost his life in an IED explosion: Pvt Ryan Larson who died on June 15th in Kandahar province. Pvt. Larson was an infantryman assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Pvt. Ryan J. Larson, 19, of Friendship, Wisconsin
Pvt. Larson was a popular student leader in his hometown and graduated from high school last year. Pvt. Larson had fulfilled his life-long dream of serving his country in the Army.
Ryan Larson grew up in Adams County, in central Wisconsin, in a town called Friendship. He was a well-known student at Adams-Friendship High School and graduated in 2010. Ryan was a class president, a top student, a member of the band, and excelled at three sports.
Ryan Larson was senior class president before he graduated in 2010, said principal Timothy Hodkiewicz.
"He had a quality of quiet leadership, common sense, very personable, not the too-talkative type," Hodkiewicz said.
"He had the respect of everybody. A top-notch gentleman from top to bottom."
Larson's grades put him on the honor roll each grading period of his high school career, he played trumpet in the band and he won letters in baseball, wrestling and cross country.
When Ryan was home on leave he would come back to wrestling team's practice room at the 500-student high school and work with the team.
"He was a person that you'd like to have be your son," Hodkiewicz said.
Everybody knew Ryan would be a soldier; he had wanted to serve in the Army as long as anybody could remember. Ryan joined the Army when he was 17, but had to wait until his 18th birthday to begin his training.
Pvt. Larson joined the Army as an infantryman last June and arrived at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, in October. He deployed to Afghanistan in April.
The 19-year-old soldier was traveling in a Stryker vehicle when it hit a roadside bomb.
Two other soldiers survived the explosion with non-life threatening injuries.
Pvt. Larson's mother and grandmother went to Dover AFB to receive his body.
Among those Pvt. Larson leaves behind are his family and hometown friends in Friendship, Wisconsin.
Pvt. Ryan Larson is missed. May He Rest in Peace.
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American service members continue to lose their lives in Iraq in the eighth year of war, although US troops are not directly involved in combat operations. Two young sergeants who made it through previous combat tours are the latest casualties:
Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bellard and Sgt. Glenn Sewell who died June 13 in a roadside bomb explosion as they traveled in Wasit province, on Iraq's border with Iran. The two soldiers were assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas.
Staff Sgt. Nicholas P. Bellard, 26, of El Paso, Texas
Before deploying to Iraq on his second combat tour, Staff Sgt. Bellard lived with his wife and their 2-year-old daughter, Eve, in El Paso,Texas, were he was stationed at Fort Hood.
Nicholas Bellard grew up in Crowely, Lousiana, but moved to El Paso with his mother and three brothers when he was 13. He was described as "the backbone of his family" and an "intelligent and devoted soldier," "honest and positive" and a "man of few words."
His aunt, Susan Ohlenforst, says Bellard's wife and child "meant the world to him."
She said Nicholas enlisted in the Army nine years ago to support his wife and she graduated last month with a teaching degree.
"He wanted a steady job that would help him put his wife through school," his aunt said.
"Once he enlisted, he realized that it was what he wanted to do."
Nicholas Bellard joined the Army in 2003 and was first stationed in South Korea.
Staff Sgt. Bellard arrived at Fort Hood as a as a cavalry scout in August 2008, and deployed to Iraq from January 2009 to November 2009.
The 26-year-old father volunteered for a second combat tour in Iraq, and deployed last January.
Sgt. Bellard's wife's family is from El Paso, but his mother and brothers no longer live there. Sgt. Bellard is being buried in Texas "so his daughter can grow up next to him," his aunt said.
Among those Staff Sgt. Bellard leaves behind are his wife and daughter, mother and brothers, aunt and and other family and friends in Texas and Louisiana.
Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bellard is missed. May He Rest in Peace.
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Sgt. Glenn M. Sewell, 23, of Live Oak, Texas.
Sgt. Glenn Sewell was a veteran of previous combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals.
Glenn Sewell is a native of Live Oak, northeast of San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Judson High School in Converse where he played guitar, was in the band, and on the academic decathlon team.
Sgt. Sewell's family and friends posted photos and remembrances on their Facebook pages and other websites. Some honored him by replacing their profile pictures with his photo.
A photo on one site depicted a U.S. flag at half-staff in honor of Sewell, whom relatives described as happy, quick with a joke and the life of the party, a confident GI who loved being a soldier but also looked forward to starting his own family.
“He was a great man; he was a warrior,” said his father, Mike Sewell, of Spring Branch. “He was a man among men, fearless.”
Glenn Sewell joined the Army in November 2007 as a cavalry scout and served a combat tour in Afghanistan. Sgt. Sewell deployed for a year-long combat tour in Iraq in June, 2008.
Like Staff Sgt. Bellard, 23-year-old Sgt. Sewell volunteered for a second tour in Iraq, wanting to be there to help his men, and deployed last February.
Sewell's cousin said he “was guts and glory, he was all about being a soldier. There was no other job for him, going out there patrolling and catching the bad guy.”
Relatives said he was excited about going to the war zone again and didn't worry as he left for Iraq again. Soon enough, he grew restless.
“Last time I talked to him, he was very bored,” his father said. “There was nothing going on and he was looking forward to getting back.”
Among those Sgt. Glenn Sewell leaves behind are his family and friends in Texas, and his men from the 1st Cavalry Division.
Sgt. Glenn Sewell is missed. May He Rest in Peace.
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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.