Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake, from the skies.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.**
We have lost five more of our precious servicemen:
The Department of Defense announced Friday the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died June 4 in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds suffered in Sharqat, Iraq, when their unit was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire and hand grenades. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
Killed in Iraq were:
Sgt. Shane P. Duffy, 22, of Taunton, Mass.
Spc. Jonathan D. A. Emard, 20, of Mesquite, Texas.
Sgt. Cody R. Legg, 23, of Escondido, Calif.
and in Afghanistan:
The Department of Defense announced Friday the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died June 5 at Kandahar Army Airfield, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when the Kiowa helicopter they were in went down during a test flight. They were assigned to the 96th Aviation Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
Killed were:
Chief Warrant Officer James Carter, 42, of Alabama.
Pfc. Andre D. McNair, Jr., 20, of Fort Pierce, Fla.
The incident is under investigation.
Sgt. Shane P. Duffy, an infantry noncommissioned officer assigned to 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, was killed June 4 when his unit was engaged by enemy forces with small arms fire and hand grenades while assaulting a building near Hawijah, Iraq.
Source: Fort Drum News Release
Sgt. Shane Duffy spent his Memorial Day weekend at home in Taunton, MA. He was on a brief visit from his second tour of duty in Iraq, having served for ten months in 2004 and re-deployed in September 2007. He was in Taunton to spend time with his wife Jamie and to witness the christening of their 8 month-old daughter Mackenzie. While there, he also had the opportunity to catch a softball game at Taunton High School where his sister Shanon, a senior, is a member of the team.
According to the Taunton Daily Gazette Sgt. Duffy was honored during a softball game on May 23rd at Taunton High School. He was able to watch Shanon make a key play resulting in a win for the home team. Friday night, that same team wore white armbands bearing the initials "SD" in memory of their teammate’s brother. Shanon herself wore a t-shirt imprinted with a photograph of her fallen brother.
The son of a Taunton firefighter, Keavin Duffy, Sgt. Duffy told a friend prior to his return to Iraq that he wasn’t afraid about continuing to serve his country. He was, however, afraid he would not be able to watch his daughter grow up, according to a piece in the Taunton Daily Gazette. The article goes on to recount Duffy’s ability to be "tough as nails" and yet to always "be there " for his friends and family.
The flags in the city of Taunton are flying at half-staff in honor of Shane Duffy.
In addition to his young wife and infant daughter, Sgt. Duffy leaves his father, his mother Frances and sister Shanon.
Please see related story from the Boston Globe.
Your day is done, Shane. Safely rest.
Go to sleep, peaceful sleep,
May the soldier or sailor, God keep.
On the land or the deep,
Safe in sleep.
Spc. Jonathan D. Emard, an infantryman assigned to 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, was killed June 4 when his unit was engaged by enemy forces with small arms fire and hand grenades while assaulting a building near Hawijah, Iraq.
Source: Fort Drum News Release
Spc. Jonathan (JD) Emard of Mesquite, TX was, by all accounts, a friendly and outgoing guy. His father David is quoted in their hometown newspaper, The Terrell Tribune that JD was very outgoing and drew a crowd wherever he went. He sometimes thought that was a "curse, especially when it was ten girls who showed up all at once."
The paper goes on to say that JD was an "absolute ace" at paintball. He would devise intricate strategies and utilize brilliant tactics to decimate his paintball opponents. His father said that watching him play paintball convinced him his son would do well in the armed forces.
Spc. Emard joined the army right out of high school at the age of 17 and had been in Iraq since September 2007.
He is survived by his parents.
Go to sleep, peaceful sleep JD.
Love, good night, must thou go,
When the day, And the night need thee so?
All is well. Speedeth all
To their rest.
Sgt. Cody R. Legg, an infantry noncommissioned officer assigned to 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, was killed June 4 when his unit was engaged by enemy forces with small arms fire and hand grenades while assaulting a building near Hawijah, Iraq.
Source: Fort Drum News Release
Sgt. Cody Legg of Escondido, CA was always a patriotic kid, according to his family. They told the San Diego-Union Tribune perhaps he was always meant to be a soldier. According to the article, as a boy he ran around with paint on his face and dressed in camouflage. He even saved his allowance to purchase camouflage netting, which he strung between trees. While still in high school, he obtained permission to remove a tree from in front of his family home and replace it with a flag pole. Today, the flag flies at half-staff.
Dave Legg, Cody’s father, the head baseball coach at Vista Murrieta High School, described his son’s heroism in the action that led to his death: "Two of his other soldiers in his unit he was in charge of were hit. He went to go save them. He didn’t make that."
Source: Daily News Digest
Cody’s MySpace page displays the following quote from Shakespeare’s King Henry V: ''We happy few, We band of brothers/For he today that sheds his blood with me/Shall be my brother." His page tells us "Cody is at peace".
And so he is. All is well, Cody.
Fades the light; and afar
Goeth day, And the stars shineth bright,
Fare thee well; Day has gone,
Night is on.
Chief Warrant Officer James Carter, 42, of Montgomery, Alabama died in Afghanistan when his Kiowa helicopter crashed during a test flight at Kandahar Army Airfield. CWO Carter served two tours in Iraq, one tour in Bosnia and his final tour in Afghanistan. According to the Patriot Guard release, CWO had been offered an instructor position at Fort Ruckert, but chose to serve with his unit in Afghanistan instead.
Source: Patriot Guard
CWO Carter joined the army in November 1983 and was the recipient of numerous awards and decorations including the Bronze Star Medal.
According to the website for Fort Campbell, KY Carter is survived by his wife Avis and sons, Joshua and Caleb of Clarksville, TN and his mother, Minnie, of Montgomery.
Thank you for your service and sacrifice. The stars shineth bright, James.
Thanks and praise, for our days
‘Neath the sun, ‘neath the stars, ‘neath the sky,
As we go, this we know
God is nigh.
Pfc Andre D. McNair, 20, of Fort Pierce, FL died of injuries sustained in the same helicopter crash in Afghanistan that took the life of Chief Warrant Officer James Carter. The incident took place at Kandahar Army Airfield.
McNair joined the army in June 2006 and was an Apache armament/electrical/avionic systems repairer.
Fort Campbell, KY is the home of the 101st Airborne Division. According to Wikipedia,
The Sabulauski Air Assault School is located here. Courses taught include Air Assault, Pathfinder, Pre-Ranger, Basic Airborne, Jumpmaster Refresher and Rappel Master. FRIES/SPIES Master courses are also taught. The school is also home to the Division’s Parachute Demonstration Team.
Pfc. McNair is survived by his parents, Pamela and Andre of Ft. Pierce, FL.
Thanks and praise, Andre.
About "I Got the News Today" (IGTNT)--I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor service members who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; its title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one.
Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and is maintained by Sandy on Signal, noweasels, MsWings, greenies, blue jersey mom, chacounne, twilight falling, moneysmith, labwitchy, joyful, roses, SisTwo, monkeybiz and me, JeNoCo.
Please bear in mind 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.
To date, there have been 4,092 U.S. armed forces deaths in Iraq and 517 in Afghanistan.
**A few words about "Taps". There are no official words to the melody but those highlighted above are the most commonly used.