My father
gave his young life for the freedom of others and to rescue those being
exterminated in the horrific Nazi holocaust. This is his photo.My father
gave his young life for the freedom of others and to rescue those being
exterminated in the horrific Nazi holocaust. This is his photo.
I dedicate this page not only to his memory but to the memory of other past and current Americans in uniform who have been and are our knights, having defended and now are defending the God given dignity of human beings not only here but around the world. I will try to post here the sacrifices of the past and present and updated news stories about them so we can give thanks to God for their sacrifices for us and others.
I am also posting here editorials and comments made that should help us remember the pray for our soldiers now fighting in a war against religious zealots who believe in a strange god, a god who they think is telling them to attack and kill the innocent as well as who believe by killing they win this god's favor. Of course there is no such god, but this battle we wage is a crusade against this figment of their imaginations and just as the ancient knights fought against those who also believed in this same god so our soldiers must do battle today.
Those who have given life and limb in the present war against this false god and his followers:
KILLED
-- Nine Marines, fighting near An Nasiriyah, encountered Iraqi troops pretending to surrender, March 23. Names not released.
-- Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27, grenade attack at 101st Airborne Division camp in Kuwait, March 23. U.S. soldier suspected in attack, military officials say.
-- Army Reserve Spc. Brandon S. Tobler, 19, non-combat vehicle accident in Iraq, March 22. Hometown not available.
-- Navy Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, 27, of La Mesa, Calif., collision of two British helicopters, March 22.
-- Marine Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of Bloomington, Ill.; Marine Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, of Houston; Marine Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey, 29, of Baltimore; Marine Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine. Helicopter crash in Kuwait, March 21.
-- Marine 2nd Lt. Therrel S. Childers, 30, of Harrison County, Miss., Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22, of Los Angeles. Ground combat in Iraq, March 21.
-- Marine Lance Cpl. Eric J. Orlowski, 26, of Buffalo, N.Y. Machine gun accidentally discharged, date uncertain.
-- Sgt. Nicolas M. Hodson, 22, of Smithville, Mo. Vehicle accident in Iraq, date uncertain.
CAPTURED:
-- Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ronald D. Young Jr., 26, from Lithia Springs, Ga.; Chief Warrant Officer 2 David S. Williams, 30, from Orlando, Fla. Pilots of Apache helicopter downed after not returning from mission March 23. Shown in Iraqi state television March 24, apparently uninjured.
-- Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, of Almagordo, N.M.; Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, of Park City, Kan.; Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, of Fort Bliss, Texas; Edgar Hernandez, 21, supply truck driver, of Mission, Texas, rank unknown; Army Sgt. James Riley, 31, of Pennsauken; N.J. Shown on Iraqi television after pre-dawn ambush of convoy near An Nasiriyah, southwestern Iraq, March 23.
In addition, seven others were classified as missing from An Nasiriyah. Among them: Army Pvt. Brandon Sloan, 19, of Bedford Heights, Ohio, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 22, of Tuba City, Ariz., and Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, supply clerk, of Palestine, W.Va., family members said. The names of four others were not available.
Iraqi TV Shows Men Said to Be U.S. Apache Pilots
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Reuters
Monday, March 24, 2003; 6:59 PM
By Samia Nakhoul
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi television showed on Monday video of two men it said were the crew of a U.S. Apache helicopter that was downed after attacking an elite Republican Guard division southwest of Baghdad.
The men, who both appeared to be in good health, were wearing khaki overalls and remained silent on camera.
The television showed their identity papers, including a Texas driving license, and their credit cards. It said their helicopter was shot down by a farmer.
"The heroic farmer Ali Obeid-Mingash...shot down the Apache with his rifle. These are...the two American pilots who were sent by the little Bush to the inferno of death," the report said, referring to President Bush.
Earlier on Monday Iraqi television showed pictures of a U.S. Apache Longbow, one of the world's top attack helicopters, sitting in a field next to a group of jubilant farmers who were waving old-fashioned guns in the air.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has promised to give any Iraqi who shoots down a U.S. or British helicopter 50 million dinars (worth around $16,500 on the black market).
U.S. war commander General Tommy Franks said on Monday an Apache helicopter went missing after it attacked an area south of Baghdad. He denied that it could have been shot down by farmers but did not say what had forced it out of the sky.
The Apache shown on Iraqi television appeared to be in good condition and was said to have come down near the city of Kerbala, 70 miles from the capital.
U.S. military officials said the helicopter had taken part in strikes against the Republican Guard's Medina Division, which is dug in and defending Baghdad's southern flanks.
The two supposed pilots were seen seated, drinking tea and water. One nibbled briefly at a biscuit. The pair looked somber and slightly uneasy.
Their appearance came just a day after Iraq paraded on television five U.S. soldiers believed to have been captured after an ambush in the southeastern town of Nassiriya.
Television also showed the bloodied corpses of up to eight U.S. servicemen allegedly killed in the encounter.
U.S. officials denounced the footage as "disgusting" and said the questioning of the five captives on television flouted the rules of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday that all parties involved in the war on Iraq had defied the Geneva Convention by allowing pictures of prisoners they had captured to be aired on television.
The men shown on Monday, who had short, cropped hair, did not face any on-camera questioning.
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See the click below for source of this information and credit is due to ABCNews for this information and I borrow it here but recommend you go to their website for full view of this remarkable page.
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Casualties of ‘Enduring Freedom’
U.S. Personnel Killed in the Line of Duty
The following are the U.S. personnel who have been killed in the
U.S.-led war on terror: (please do click on this website to see
their images and read their names)
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/STRIKE_Casualties.html |
Four
dead in helo crash in Afghanistan
From the International
Desk WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- All four crewmembers on a UH-60 Black Hawk
helicopter that crashed Thursday near Bagram airfield in Afghanistan died,
according to the Pentagon. The helicopter crashed 10 to 12 kilometers (about 6 miles) east of the Bagram
Air Base at around 10:00 a.m. EST, nighttime in Afghanistan. The pilot would
have been using night-vision goggles, a Pentagon official said. Hostile fire is not suspected in the crash. An accident investigation has
begun. The helicopter was on a routine training mission at the time of the
crash. The Black Hawk is the Army's main combat utility helicopter used for air
assault, air cavalry, and aeromedical evacuation units. It is designed to carry
11 combat-loaded, air assault troops. It entered service in 1978. There have been six serious aviation accidents in the Army since October,
double the three-year average for accidents in that time period, according to
the Army. A Black Hawk crashed in Honduras in December, killing all five crewmembers.
Published 1/30/2003 4:09 PM
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| Honor our young
heroes
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/754/public/news424886.html |
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| The young men and
women being called to serve deserve our support.
01/30/03 Have you noticed it? For some of us, it is only a vague memory from our childhood, for others, it is something we have never seen, something we hoped to never see. For still others a painful memory of times long ago. Young men and women who have the appearance of children barely out of high school are appearing around the community in their camouflage fatigues and black beret hats. They are our heroes. They are the young men and women who are being called to protect our nation’s borders and beyond. They are the young men and women who are being asked to abandon their plans and their goals, in order to go to a foreign land and fight a foreign people for the rights we have come to take for granted. That call effects the lives of young people like Jarrod Schmoker, seen on the front page of the McCook Daily Gazette earlier this month, saying good-bye to his infant son, Mason and his wife, Kerri. That call effects the lives of young people like Kyle Stritt and his fiance, Carissa Howell, who moved up the date of their wedding, reciting their vows Wednesday night in order to publicly declare their love for one another before he is ordered to places unknown. Jarrod and Kyle and those like them are not unknown soldiers being sent to a war in a far away country, fighting an unknown, evil dictator. They are our children, our grandchildren, our brothers and sisters, our nieces and nephews, our husbands and wives, our fathers and mothers. They are our friends. They are our future. Those of us who remain here in our comfortable lives have a responsibility to these young men and women. Our job is to offer them our love and support as they leave for their assigned duties and as the fight the hard battle in front of them. Our job is to offer those they leave behind that same love and support. Do you know a family who is struggling since the deployment of a family member? The American Legion offers a Family Support Network to help the families of American soldiers. For more information, call (800) 504-4098. Callers are expected to provide their name, the city and state they are calling from and telephone numbers where they can be reached. In most cases, they will receive a return call within two working days. The callers information is then passed on to a local American Legion Post, which will help the caller address his or her needs.
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January 24, 2003
Bush visits wounded
soldiers
http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/8_03/national_news/21283-1.html
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| Photo
by Brett McMillan
President Bush and First Lady, Laura, talk to soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. |
In his first visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, President George W. Bush, and first lady Laura Bush, met Friday with five soldiers seriously wounded in Afghanistan, and thanked them for their service to America.
Following the private visits on the hospital's Ward 57, Bush told reporters in the second-floor lobby he and Laura had "just met with five incredibly brave soldiers & five of America's finest citizens who have been severely injured in the line of duty.
"We had a chance to tell both soldier and loved one alike that service to our country is noble and strong and good and we appreciate it very much," Bush said.
After thanking the center's commander Maj. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley for his hospitality, Bush called Walter Reed a remarkable facility, "full of healers and compassionate people & people who are trained with the very best of skills to take care of people who have been injured badly.
"Having been here and seen the care these troops get is comforting for me and Laura," he said. "We should and must provide the best care for anybody who is willing to put their life in harm's way. And I can report to the American people these five soldiers, badly injured in the line of service, are getting the best possible care. And our government is providing it to them."
While word of the president's visit was kept quiet, the soldiers he visited - much to their surprise -- were informed a day or two prior. A couple of them said they even found the chance to get a haircut. Ward 57 staff said they were also excited for the opportunity to meet the president and his wife.
One soldier the first couple visited with, Staff Sgt. Michael McNaughton, from the 769th Engineer Battalion, Louisiana National Guard, said he and his wife were "very excited" about meeting the president. "He was a very nice man and it was very nice taking pictures with him and his wife."
While doing reconnaissance, McNaughton stepped on a land mine in what was believed to be a cleared area at Bagram Air Base Dec. 27. The explosion took his right foot as well as two fingers on his right hand. Several shrapnel wounds extending up his right leg required the leg to be amputated just above the knee.
The president spent nearly 10 minutes with him, McNaughton said, "Maybe less & when you're talking to the president of the United States you kind of lose track of time and everything."
"We talked about my injuries, and he wanted to know if I ran. And I said 'yes I run.' And he challenged me to running when I get better. He didn't say how long or how fast, he said he just wanted to run with me and see if I could hang with him," McNaughton said. "He kept on repeating it so I'm going to hold him up for it. That would be an honor to run with Mr. President."
McNaughton said he doesn't have a lot of heroes, but along with being a NASCAR enthusiast, one of his hobbies is the government and military, and being visited by the commander in chief was an honor he didn't expect. "It was very nice, very nice of him."
Although he doesn't know how long to expect before he'll be fitted with a prosthesis and walking again, McNaughton said he is motivated to run again as soon as possible.
(McMillan is assistant editor of the Walter Reed Stripe.)