In 1776, Tom Paine wrote these immortal words in The Crisis:
These are times that try men’s souls, The summer
Soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis,
Shrink from service of their country; but he that
Stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of men and women.
Today, we honor four fallen soldiers who deserve our love and thanks for their service and sacrifice for our country. As is so often the case these days, all four should have been safely home in June, but tragically their tours had been extended.
Please join me below as we honor these brave men.
IGTNT August 10, 2007, Edition
DoD Identifies Army Casualties
The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died Aug. 6 in Baqubah, Iraq, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
Killed were:
Staff Sgt. Jacob M. Thompson, 26, of North Mankato, Minn.
Sgt. Nicholas A. Gummersall, 23, of Chubbuck, Idaho.
Cpl. Juan M. Alcantara, 22, of New York.
Spc. Kareem R. Khan, 20, of Manahawkin, N.J.
Heavy Hearts in Fort Lewis, Washington
For nearly two months, troops from Fort Lewis had been searching out and destroying hidden explosive devices planted by insurgents in Diyala province near Baqubah. The Stryker team had already spent fourteen months in Iraq, without suffering any casualties.
Then in an instant, everything changed. While clearing a house, there was an explosion. Four soldiers and one interpreter were killed, and twelve other soldiers were wounded.
The Baqubah incident was the third tragedy for the brigade that week. Just days before – on July 31 and August 2 -- two devastating bombings had taken the lives of six soldiers in Baghdad.
As a Fort Lewis Army Chaplain, Lt. Col. John Pettit, advised family members and friends during an earlier memorial to talk about their losses openly, says the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune: "Allow your tears to flow. Tell your stories," Pettit said. "Honestly express your grief."
"I just want you to know I really love you guys."
Those are the last words Jacob Thompson spoke to his family from Iraq. A few days later, his father, Charlie Thompson, and mother, Barb, were visiting with friends when Charlie’s cell phone rang. On the line, was the voice of a woman he didn’t know.
"First she asked if Barb was with him. Then she asked if he was driving. After he said, "No," to the second question, the woman asked if he was with friends.
When he answered yes, the woman said she was sorry to inform him his son had been killed in action.
"My first reaction was this is a sick joke," Charlie Thompson said. "You’ve got to be kidding."
"I’m not sure that was any worse than if they had come to the door," Barb Thompson added."
Jacob was on his second tour in Iraq when the family received the news. During a press conference, they shared memories of their son, the youngest of three boys, as he grew up.
From the Mankato (MN) Free Press, which has a link to footage of the conference:
"Jon, 40, and Jason, 38, were teenagers when their brother was still an infant, so they were asked to baby-sit a lot. Charlie Thompson laughed out loud as he described how his older sons had hanged Jacob up on a macramé hook by his overalls.
"That was their method of baby-sitting," he said.
Then Barb quickly added, "They used to hire the neighbor girl to change his diapers."
His parents describe Jacob as a dedicated soldier, who was planning to serve a third tour, even though his second had been extended. When his parents expressed concerns about having a son in the war zone, Jacob would tell them the positive aspects of his service -- playing games with Iraqi children, and meeting merchants, men and woman alike, who were grateful that they could now own businesses.
They also recounted their son’s unfailing generosity. As an example, they told the story of the Purple Heart Jacob received after being wounded in combat. Jacob thought a friend who was more seriously wounded than he had been deserved the medal and gave it to him.
"We have the paperwork, but we don’t have the pin," she said.
In his last conversation with his son, Charlie Thompson says Jacob told them, "I really love you guys."
"It was almost like he was saying: 'This might be the last time. I just want you to know I really love you guys.' "
The world lost a really good person
Nick Gummersall was on his fourth tour overseas, and he was ready to come home.
His older brother, Casey, 24, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
"He so damned excited about coming home in May. He was accepted to go to Boise State University and wanted to walk on the football team. And then the extensions came out. President Bush took that away from him."
Nick also had plans to marry. His fiancé, who was from North Carolina, was serving in the Army as a photographer.
A star athlete at Century High School in Pocatello, Idaho, Nick excelled at football, baseball and wrestling. Coach Bruce Givens, who knew Nick well, described him as a natural athlete who could have shone in any sport. But Givens stressed that Nick was just as talented as a leader as in sports.
From the Idaho Press Tribune:
"He’s one of the best kids that I’d ever coached," Givens said. "It sounds cliche, but he’s a kid you wish you had 50 of on any team."
Those close to him remember Nick as an outgoing person and a great friend. His brother, Casey, told the Press Tribune he was the kind of guy who pushed himself and inspired others to reach beyond the ordinary.
"Nick always pushed himself. One day at Fort Lewis, he and one of his buddies were just sitting around bored and said, 'Know what? Let's go climb that mountain, Mount Rainier.' They packed their stuff, drove out, checked in and went. Nick couldn't sit around too much. He was something."
In the community of Pocatello, family and friends are reeling from the news of Nick’s death. His friend, Colton Christensen, told Idaho’s News 8
"I was just kind of thinking that the world lost a real good person and probably one of the better people over there fighting for us and working hard for us."
Nick joined the Army after graduating in 2002. His father, Clay Gummersall, said Nick chose the Rangers because it would bring out the best in him.
From the Pocatello Press-Tribune: Pocatello Press-Tribune
His friend, Caitlyn McCune, 21, described him as confident and carefree, saying he never voiced any fears about serving in Iraq.
"When I’d get worried, he’d say, ‘I’m 10 feet tall and bulletproof,’" McCune said.
Nick’s brother, Casey, summed it the feelings of so many people who knew him this way:
"He was a squad leader. He loved his men and would do anything for his men. He even died with them. But he died too soon. He was 23 and had way too many goals and ambitions and promise to die over there."
Nick’s photograph can be seen here.
Nick is survived by his parents and five siblings. Flags in Pocatello are flying at half mast until his return.
"He wanted to be a soldier since he was a boy"
Juan Mariel Alcantara fulfilled a childhood dream when he joined the Army in 2004, right after completing his high school education. His mother, Maria, a resident of New York’s Washington Heights, described her son to the New York Post:
"He was a nice, quiet child. He used to like to play basketball and football. He was never in trouble. He never did anything wrong."
Maria said she had been worried for months, because communication between the U.S. and Iraq were difficult. After an agonizingly long silence, she finally received an email from her son in May, and learned that he had been on a mission to track down kidnapped soldiers.
Her earlier relief turned to sorrow this week (a picture of the grieving family can be seen here -- when she posted this message at a Spanish language website:
"Everyone, friends of this forum. Today grief reached my door. After experiencing the joy of hearing that my son was okay in Iraq like I told you, today I received the most upsetting news. They killed him..."
Like so many other soldiers, Juan was supposed to return home in June. It would have been a joyous homecoming, because it meant he would finally hold his six-week-old baby daughter, Jaylani Marie.
A decorated infantryman, Alcantara was posthumously promoted from specialist to corporal. Sadly, his plans to join the New York Police Department, as his sister Cathy had done, will never be realized.
You can see photographs of him and his baby daughter here ((click on the right-hand arrow to see his beautiful baby daughter). There is also a photograph of Juan here, after his graduation from high school.
"He thought he was an American and he had a job to do"
For the Khan family, time stood still at 9:30 Monday morning, when they heard a knock on the front door and found three officers outside. As Kareem’s stepmother, Nisha, told the Press of Atlantic City:
"I didn’t want to let them in. I didn’t mean it to be rude, but I knew why they were here." You see it on the movies, but you never know the emptiness that it brings until you see them for yourself. When they come, you know something is wrong."
Like his friend, Juan Alcantaro, who died with him on August 6, Kareem R. Khan, grew up dreaming of joining the Army. (heartbreaking photograph of the two friends with Iraqi children can be seen here)
Like so many 20-year-olds, Kareem loved video games, movies, snowboarding and watching his favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys. But he also was determined to join the Army.
His father, Feroze Khan, told Press of Atlantic City:
"All he wanted to be was a soldier. It’s something that just stuck with him, and we were behind him 100 percent."
Added his stepmother, Nisha:
"The way he thought of it was that he was an American and he had a job to do."
When his son’s tour of duty was extended recently, Feroze was worried. But Kareem never complained. He enjoyed spending time with Iraqi children and giving them gifts that had been sent to him.
Again, from Press of Atlantic City:
"Kareem called me and told me this kid wouldn’t stop following him around. But he didn’t mind," said Feroze Khan, who proudly displays a picture in the family’s dining room of the Iraqi child hugging Khan.
Kareem leaves behind an 11-year-old sister, Aliya. She described one of her favorite memories to the paper, the time her older brother went to school with her and she could "show him off."
"He came into my class to talk about what it was like to be in the Army," Aliya said. "I was so proud of him."
At Facebook, Kareem’s friends are remembering him with touching messages.
"Kareem was just a really nice and outgoing person. If something was wrong, he would always do his best to find a way to fix it."
"The world is missing somebody special now. That’s for sure."
Even those of us who did know these four young men personally would have to agree -- the world is missing somebody special now.
The Iraq Coalition Casualty Count reports that total number of US casualties confirmed by the Department of Defense is now 3,680, with three additional deaths pending notification of relatives. The DoD news releases can be found here.
If you'd like to help our soldiers, consider sponsoring a soldier at TroopCarePackage.com, anysoldier.com, Operation Helmet, and Fisher House are also wonderful organizations that offer additional opportunity to help out American soldiers.
Finally, if you would like to assist the animal companions of our deployed military, either with a donation or by providing a temporary foster home, visit these organizations: Operation Noble Foster, Guardian Angels for Soldiers Pets, and Net Pets. (Credit for this information belongs to noweasels, who originally posted it.)
About the IGTNT series:
IGTNT stands for "I Got the News Today." The phrase most likely refers to the Beatles song, and it is meant to symbolize that terrible knock on the door that any number of families got today, bringing with it the news that a loved one has died. IGTNT is a diary series intended to honor, respect and remind.
Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and is maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, silvercedes, MsWings, blue jersey mom, chacounne, Worried Dem, twilight falling, Wee Mama, sheddhead, greenies, labwitchy and me, moneysmith.
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.
If you would like to help out with IGTNT -- even once a month -- please get in touch with silvercedes, Sandy on Signal, noweaselsor monkeybiz.