Tonight we will remember two sevicemen who were killed in two very different wars. One was a young man who was lost to his family quite recently. The other has been missing since 1944. They have both been welcomed back to the United States and will rest eternally now in their homeland.
May they rest the peaceful rest of those who have done their jobs to the best of their ability. These men were:
- Marine Sergeant Daniel J. Patron who was from Ohio
- Army PFC William F. Stehlin who was from Kentucky
Sergeant Daniel J. Patron
Daniel J. Patron was from Canton, Ohio. He’d played football at Edison Junior High. In high school, he was a member of the speech and debate team. His mom was a coach for those teams. He was president the school’s theater group, "The Perry Players," and a member of the National Thespian Society. He played the lead role in “The Pajama Game” his senior year, and won the theater hall-of-fame award. He was in the choir, played drums in the marching band, and also knew how to play the bagpipes.
Patron enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from Ohio’s Perry High in 2003. He was inspired to serve following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. He spent the first four years in the military band. In 2004, the band performed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Parade in Ohio.
According to Stark County’s CantonRep site:
In 2007, his older brother, Matthew, wrote and illustrated a book in his honor. It is titled, “I Love You, Dan, Good Night.”
The first page reads “For Dan, remembering the day your boots touched down, and knowing deep within that love can overcome any distance.”
The story tells how Matthew cared for his younger brother as a kid, carrying him to bed when he would fall asleep in front of the television, and charts their way through childhood to the day Dan chose to enter the military
Patron decided to train for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company in Florida. Following the training, he was assigned to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force. He and his wife, Cody, were stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
The Sergeant and his wife had two stray dogs they’d rescued and Patron cared for a third, a bomb-sniffing dog named Boomer, while in Afghanistan. Patron and his wife planned to start a family when his service ended.
After serving in Iraq in 2005 and 2009, Patron left for his third overseas deployment to Afghanistan in April. His military service was set to end in July, but he’d decided to extend it and would have been home in November.
On August 6th, Marine Sergeant Daniel J. Patron was killed while trying to defuse a roadside bomb in Sangin, Afghanistan, in the Helmand province. He was 26 years old.
Another article at the
CantonRep site told of the reaction to news of Patron's death:
Friends set flowers and placed tea-light candles in the shape of Dan’s name on the brick walkway surrounding the Perry Veterans Memorial. Patron took part in the dedication of the memorial, outside Perry High School, in 2006. He helped unveil the bronze statue and performed with his alma mater’s marching band during the ceremony.
The memorial bears the names of nine men from Perry who died in the Vietnam War, as well as that of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Richard Ramey, who died Feb. 8, 2004, in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, also while trying to defuse a roadside bomb. Ramey was the first casualty of either the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts from Stark County.
Steve and Libby Toohey, family friends, bought potted flowers to place around the memorial Sunday and spent the afternoon pulling weeds. Steve Toohey said it was a way to “get rid of the aggravation and frustration” he was feeling.
“He was a fun-loving, footloose, free kid,” said Steve, whose daughter grew up with Patron. “He was a sweetheart. He spent most of his time laughing and clowning around
In a flag-draped casket, Patron’s remains were returned home Sunday night under the floodlights of Dover Air Force Base, where his family journeyed so they could be there to witness the solemn ceremony to honor their son and brother.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by his wife, Cody, of Jacksonville, N.C., and a brother, Matthew. He was married to Cody (Drace) Patron for nearly two years.
According to the
IndeOnline site, the family whose son Daniel Patron helped honor not so long ago has contacted his parents to offer their support:
The Rameys have known Patron’s parents for several years. They were introduced after Daniel asked his parents to present them a U.S. flag that had flown over an Air Force memorial to EOD specialists killed in combat.
“EOD is a special breed of people. They are there to defuse bombs. They are there to save lives, not take lives,” Jerry said. “... I think for anybody that’s an EOD it’s an added worry. It’s our sons and daughters’ jobs to defuse those bombs. We tried to give them the hope that their son could have a full career in the military and not have anything happen.”
Julie said she and her husband are ready to help the Patrons navigate the long road ahead of them.
“We are in a little over seven years and it’s a new normal. We’re comfortable with it but you have to get through that first year or two,” she said
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Army PFC William F. Stehlin
Army PFC William F. Stehlin of Dayton, Ky., will be buried on August 11th in Arlington National Cemetery. On Nov. 20, 1944, Stehlin, as part of the 333rd Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division, went missing near Süggerath while his unit conducted a largely successful offensive to capture towns in Western Germany. In 1951, after an extensive search, his remains were determined unrecoverable by U.S. Army Graves Registration personnel.
In 2009, a German citizen digging in a wooded area near Süggerath, discovered a grave with the remains of two individuals, military-related equipment and identification tags.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command laboratory also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.
KY Post.com has this entry about the MIA:
Stehlin's only son, Frank William, who goes by Bill, was always told growing up that his dad "died a hero." Bill was only 2 years old when his father was killed in World War II on Nov. 20, 1944. He is now 69 years old.
"It was a little heartache. That was his father and he never really got to meet him," said Ina Johnston, Bill Stehlin's daughter. "He wanted to meet his dad."
The military gave the family Stehlin's dog tags, medals including the Purple Heart as well as a book containing numerous photos of Stehlin, who was a machine gunner.
Johnston says the book, "gives an idea of what he was going through and where he was when he died."
The other individual, Pfc. Edward L. O’Toole, was identified and buried on July 15th in San Bruno, Calif. Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict. For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the
DPMO website.
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Helping our troops:
If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider contributing to Fisher House. Donating to Netroots for the Troops provides care packages that make a real difference in a military person's life. To assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here. Also, you could visit:
When our veterans come back home, they need jobs. Look at the programs of Hire Heroes USA and Welcome Back Veterans to see if you can help out.
About the IGTNT series:
”I Got the News Today” is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remind us of the sacrifice of our US troops. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and is maintained by Sandy on Signal, Monkeybiz, Noweasels, Blue Jersey Mom, Chacounne, Twilight Falling, Joyful, SisTwo, Spam Nunn, True Blue Majority, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Maggie Jean, Jax Dem, Kestrel 9000, & TheFatLadySings. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but show our community’s respect for those who have died.
Fallen service members whose names have been released by the US Department of Defense will usually be diarized two days after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner.
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Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.