In honor of the troops who've lost their lives in Iraq, RIP - Political Fever

ViolaLee · #1 (**permalink**) 01-22-2008, 08:38 PM

Hi everyone, this is a thread to honor the troops who've lost their lives while serving our country in Iraq. Please feel free to post their pictures and whatever you can find about them as well as a link to where you got the information from. Please use another thread for debate or anything else you'd like to post about the war. This one is simply and only to honor them. I thank them all for serving and may they all rest in peace.

Army Capt. Thomas J. Casey

Quote:

Army Capt. Thomas J. Casey was 32, of Albuquerque, N.M.; assigned to the Military Transition Team, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died Jan. 3 in As Sadiyah, Iraq, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire during combat operations. Also killed was Maj. Andrew J. Olmsted.

Quote:

The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE — An Army captain from New Mexico who was killed in Iraq is being remembered as a devoted father and a natural leader.

Capt. Thomas J. Casey, 32, of Albuquerque was killed Thursday in As Sadiyah when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire, the Defense Department said. Also killed in the attack was Army Maj. Andrew J. Olmsted, 37, of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Casey graduated from Albuquerque Academy in 1993 and attended New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico, graduating with degrees in Spanish and Portuguese.

A former classmate said he expected Casey to be successful one day.

“As an adult now, I look back on our childhood when he was in sports and all that stuff, and you could kind of see he was a natural leader,” said Danny Brown, who attended school with Casey from first through 12th grades. “It really doesn’t shock me that he went into the military and was as good a leader as he was.”

Casey’s family remembers him as an “amazing family man.”

He and his wife, Leslie, had two children, ages 3 and 1. The family lived in Reno, Nev. Casey’s father, John J. Casey, lives in Albuquerque.

“Free time (for) a military officer is precious and limited, but when there was free time, (he) spent every possible minute with his wife and children,” said a statement issued Saturday through the Nevada National Guard, which provided casualty assistance for his family in Reno.

Casey was a military intelligence officer serving on a transition team assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, Kan. Transition team training is a 60-day cycle at Fort Riley to prepare teams of American soldiers, airmen and sailors to advise, teach, mentor and coach their Iraqi or Afghan counterparts, the military said in a news release Saturday. Fort Riley said he was deployed on the team in June.

Casey had retired from the Army three years ago after his first tour in Iraq. His family said he later re-enlisted.

April Conway, a spokeswoman for the Nevada National Guard, said Casey was a linguist for a few years with the Army.

Casey and his wife met at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif. They were married in October 1998.

Casey was the first soldier with New Mexico ties to be killed in Iraq in 2008. Last year, 12 New Mexicans died in Iraq and one was killed in Afghanistan.

Honor the fallen: Army Capt. Thomas J. Casey

Rest in peace Thomas.

ViolaLee · #2 (**permalink**) 01-22-2008, 08:41 PM

Army Pfc. Jason F. Lemke

Quote:

Army Pfc. Jason F. Lemke was 30, of West Allis, Wis.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died Jan. 5 in Ibrahim Al Adham, Iraq, of wounds sustained when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

Quote:

30-year-old soldier from West Allis killed in Iraq

By James A. Carlson
The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee area soldier who was trained in Arabic before being deployed in Iraq has been killed by an improvised explosive device there.

Pfc. Jason F. Lemke, 30, died Saturday from wounds suffered when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Ibrahim Al Adham, the Department of Defense said Monday.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

Lemke enlisted in December 2004 in Milwaukee and underwent training in Fort Benning, Ga. He transferred to Fort Lewis in May 2005 and his brigade deployed to Iraq in April.

“He had a year of intensive training in Arabic language,” said Gregory Lemke of Milwaukee, Jason’s father.

The training left him adept enough to surprise an Arabic-speaking shopkeeper at a local shopping center by striking up a friendship in his own language, Lemke said.

“I guess he made a big hit with the guy because of his language,” he said, adding that his son also spoke Spanish.

Jason graduated in 1996 from Wisconsin Lutheran High School, he said.

He worked for a company that made stainless steel kitchen appliances but enlisted some time after his marriage ended in divorce, his father said, adding that Jason had two children living with their mother.

“He wanted to serve before and I kind of talked him out of it,” Lemke said, but the family has a history of military service.

“His grandpa was in the Marines. His uncle was a Marine. My father was in the Army, and my older brother was in the Army,” he said. “So there’s a family service thing there. He wanted to make a mark, I guess.”

At the time of his enlistment, he had been living in his grandfather’s house just across the border in suburban West Allis from the family’s home in Milwaukee.

Lemke said his son got leaves while stationed in the U.S. so he could be home for the holidays.

“This was our first Christmas without him,” he said.

He said he hadn’t been very comforted to think the warfare seemed to be lessening in Iraq in recent months.

“My deer hunting buddy said it’s winding down,” he said. “I said it doesn’t matter if it’s winding down. If it’s the one that you love, that’s it.”

The death came just before the anniversary Jan. 16 of the death in Vietnam of a distant cousin, Alec Horn, whose picture is still on his mantle, Gregory Lemke said.

The family learned of Jason’s death Saturday and has been informed the body has been returned to the U.S., he said. He planned to meet with a casualty officer Tuesday about funeral arrangements.

Jason Lemke’s awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.

He is the 82nd Wisconsin resident to die as a result of service in the Iraq war.

Honor the fallen: Army Pfc. Jason F. Lemke

Rest in peace Jason.

ViolaLee · #3 (**permalink**) 01-22-2008, 11:09 PM

Army Pfc. Timothy R. Hanson

Quote:

Army Pfc. Timothy R. Hanson was 23, of Kenosha, Wis.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.; died Jan. 7 in Salman Pak, Iraq, of wounds sustained from enemy small-arms fire.

Quote:

2 Wisconsin soldiers killed in Iraq over 3 days

The Associated Press

KENOSHA, Wis. — Another Wisconsin soldier has been killed in Iraq — the second in three days.

Army Pfc. Timothy R. Hanson, 23, of Kenosha, died Jan. 7 in Salman Pak from injuries suffered after he was shot by enemy small-arms fire, the Department of Defense said.

His mother, Susan Hanson, said Jan. 8 the family was told he was shot in a tower while on nighttime guard duty in southeast Baghdad. “That’s all we know so far.”

She said she learned the news while waiting for a telephone call from him after a phone conversation Jan. 5, urging her to make sure to get his income taxes done because he expected a big refund.

When the phone call didn’t come, she thought he was just delayed. “The next thing I know is I have two military gentlemen at the door,” she said.

Her son always seemed in “pretty good spirits” about his duty in Iraq, Susan Hanson said.

“He felt secure where he was and was getting bored. ... About the only negative I heard lately was, ‘I wish the military had two sets of clothes. I get sick of wearing the same thing, day in and day out,’” she said.

Hanson was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, out of Fort Benning, Ga. He was single.

Elsie Jackson, a spokeswoman at Fort Benning, said Hanson, who joined the Army in April 2006, was a member of an infantry crew that fired mortars.

He was among about 4,000 soldiers from Fort Benning shipped to Iraq last March for a 15-month deployment, Jackson said. It was his first duty in Iraq.

Hanson is the 83rd Wisconsin resident to die as a result of service in the Iraq war, which started in 2003.

On Monday, the Pentagon announced that Army Pfc. Jason F. Lemke, 30, of West Allis, died Jan. 5 in Iraq when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device.

Lemke, who was assigned to an infantry unit out of Fort Lewis, Wash., had intense training in the Arabic language before being deployed to Iraq last April, according to his father, Gregory Lemke of Milwaukee.

Lemke was a 1996 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran High School.

Hanson graduated from Indian Trail Academy, one of five public high schools in the Kenosha Unified School District, in June 2003.

Richard Aiello, principal at the school, said Hanson completed the school’s communications program, not its military affairs program.

History teacher Che Kearby had Hanson in classes as a freshman and junior and remembers him as very quiet and very reserved and a lover of history.

“He always seemed to seek out adult companionship. In high school probably some of the people he was closest to was some of his teachers,” Kearby said. “Behaviorwise, great kid.”

“He was very cerebral, and often talked, especially when it came to history, above most of his classmates. He definitely had a passion for it.”

Hanson attended about two years of college, at Northern Michigan University and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, studying history, before deciding to join the Army, his mother said.

“I wasn’t thrilled. ... knowing where he was going,” she said.

Her son told her that in his first two months in Iraq, he hadn’t shot his gun.

“I said, ‘OK. I like the area you are in. Stay there.’ I guess just recently it was getting more active,” the mother said.

Hanson, who lost 35 pounds to meet the Army’s enlistment requirements, loved movies and took his collection of nearly 300 DVDs and a portable player with him to Iraq, the mother said.

“He was into history. He loved World War II. He was interested in the Civil War when he was younger and then switched to World War II,” she said. “He read anything and everything about it.”

He liked the military life and was already talking about re-enlisting, Mrs. Hanson said. “It kind of fit his personality. He was a kid who was in Boy Scouts. He always loved to camp out, the field trips.”

Honor the fallen: Army Pfc. Timothy R. Hanson

Rest in Peace Timothy

AmericanDreamer · #4 (**permalink**) 01-23-2008, 12:13 AM

Petty Officer 2nd Class Kevin R. Bewley
Hometown: Hector, Arkansas, U.S.

Age: 27 years old

Died: November 5, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Navy, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 11, Oak Harbor, Wash.

Incident: Killed when a makeshift bomb detonated while he was conducting operations in Salah ad Din province.

AmericanDreamer · #5 (**permalink**) 01-23-2008, 12:15 AM

Sgt. Daniel J. Shaw
Hometown: West Seneca, New York, U.S.

Age: 23 years old

Died: November 5, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Army, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Incident: His death is under investigation.

AmericanDreamer · #6 (**permalink**) 01-23-2008, 12:16 AM

Pfc. Adam J. Muller
Hometown: Underhill, Vermont, U.S.

Age: 21 years old

Died: November 5, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Army, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

Incident: Killed when a makeshift bomb detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Tal Al-Dahab.

ViolaLee · #7 (**permalink**) 01-24-2008, 02:10 AM

Army Sgt. Christopher A. Sanders

Quote:

Army Sgt. Christopher A. Sanders was 22, of Roswell, N.M.; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Vilseck, Germany.; died Jan. 9 in Sinsil, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated during combat operations. Also killed were Spc. Todd E. Davis, Staff Sgt. Jonathan K. Dozier, Staff Sgt. Sean M. Gaul, Sgt. Zachary W. McBride and Sgt. 1st Class Matthew I. Pionk.

Quote:

9 soldiers killed in attacks north of Baghdad

Staff report

Six soldiers were killed and four wounded Wednesday when an improvised explosive device was detonated in a house they were searching in Diyala province, according to a Multi-National Division-Baghdad press release.

The Army also announced that three U.S. soldiers were killed and two were wounded Tuesday in an attack in Salahuddin province to the east.

An incident in which a building is booby-trapped is described by the Army as a “house borne improvised explosive device” or HBIED.

The soldiers in both attacks were assigned to Multi-National Division-North, which is headquartered in Tikrit about 80 miles north of Baghdad, under the command and control of the 1st Armored Division.

In a separate press release Wednesday, the Army announced that soldiers with Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, using air strikes, killed four extremists and destroyed an HBIED near Khan Bani Sa’ad, in Diyala province Iraq, on Sunday.

According to the release, the soldiers, who are operating out of Patrol Base Key West, spotted four individuals with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s assault rifles operating in and around a nearby building. The soldiers watched them unroll wire around the building, possibly setting it up to be a HBIED, the release said.

The ground commander called in an air strike, and a coalition forces’ helicopter fired a Hellfire missile at the building.

Minutes later, coalition aircraft dropped two bombs on the structure, the release said.

After the second bomb, the soldiers observed large secondary explosions and different kinds of smoke at the site.

Exploitation of the site revealed wire around the building, confirming that the building was rigged as a HBIED, according to the release.

The names of those killed in action on Wednesday were withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Defense Department, the release said.

Honor the fallen: Army Sgt. Christopher A. Sanders

Rest in peace Christopher.

AmericanDreamer · #8 (**permalink**) 01-24-2008, 01:33 PM

Spec. Richard B. Burress
Hometown: Naples, Florida, U.S.

Age: 25 years old

Died: January 19, 2008 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Army, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.

Incident: Killed in Al Jabour, Iraq, when his vehicle encountered a makeshift bomb.

AmericanDreamer · #9 (**permalink**) 01-24-2008, 01:34 PM

Spec. Jon M. Schoolcraft, III
Hometown: Wapakoneta, Ohio, U.S.

Age: 26 years old

Died: January 19, 2008 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Army, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii

Incident: Killed in Taji, Iraq, when his vehicle struck makeshift bomb.

AmericanDreamer · #10 (**permalink**) 01-24-2008, 01:35 PM

Staff Sgt. Justin R. Whiting
Hometown: Hancock, New York, U.S.

Age: 27 years old

Died: January 19, 2008 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Army, 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Incident: Killed in Mosul when his vehicle struck a makeshift bomb.

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