In Memoriam

[Grace]

The Army announced today the promotion of a soldier listed as Missing-Captured while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom to the rank of sergeant effective June 12, 2011.

Sgt. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 25, is assigned to 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

This is Bergdahl’s second promotion since he was listed as Missing-Captured on June 30, 2009. He was promoted to the rank of specialist on June 12, 2010.

[Grace]

16 June 2011

US Marine Sergeant Mark Andrew Bradley, age 25, died on Thursday 16th June 2011 from injuries he received in Afghanistan from a bomb blast on 3rd June.

Sgt. Bradley served with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune. He was on his first deployment to Afghanistan and had previously completed four overseas tours of duty.

He had been medically evacuated from Afghanistan to Germany and then to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

His wife, Samantha, said that doctors had amputated both of Sgt. Bradley's legs above the knee. His lungs had collapsed, his kidney and liver failed, and he suffered brain trauma. Doctors also had operated on his heart.

Sgt. Bradley joined the Marines eight years ago after he finished high school in Cuba, New York.

[Grace]

Vietnam

Airman Missing from Vietnam War Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Air Force 1st Lt. David A. Thorpe of Seneca Falls, N.Y., will be buried June 23 at Arlington National Cemetery. On Oct. 3, 1966, Thorpe’s C-130E, with four other men aboard, failed to arrive at Nha Trang Air Base following their departure from Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam. Rescue personnel found their remains at the crash site in South Vietnam eight days later approximately 40 miles west of Nha Trang. The cause of the crash is not known.

Between 1984 and 1996, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) received human remains tentatively linked to Thorpe and the other crew members from various sources including refugees from the Vietnam War and Vietnamese citizens. Lacking advanced scientific tools and complete records during this time period, JPAC was unable to make an individual identification of Thorpe’s remains, so he was buried as part of a group at Arlington. Other remains associated with the entire group were held at JPAC’s laboratory for future testing.

As DNA testing procedures improved in the late 1990s, JPAC’s forensic anthropologists applied the latest technologies from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory to include mitochondrial testing, a sample of which matched the DNA from Thorpe’s sister. His dental records also helped confirm the identification.

With the accounting of this airman, 1,687 service members still remain missing from the Vietnam War.

[Grace]

England

British Army Corporal Lloyd Newell, from the Parachute Regiment, was killed in a gun battle with insurgent forces during an operation in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Thursday 16th June 2011.

British newspaper, The Sun, claim that Cpl. Newell was serving with the Special Air Service (SAS). However, the British MoD are remaining tight-lipped about his unit and his mission.

Cpl. Newell was married with a nine-week-old daughter.

[Grace]

England

British Army Craftsman Andrew Found, was killed by the blast of a roadside bomb on Thursday 16th June 2011 in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Craftsman Found, from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, was serving with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

The incident happened near Adinza’i in the Gereshk Valley area, within the northern Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province. His squadron were targeting insurgents in that area. During the operation, an armoured patrol vehicle struck a road mine which disabled the vehicle and injured its crew. As the Recovery Mechanic, Craftsman Found was assessing the damage to the vehicle when he was caught in a secondary explosion in which he was fatally wounded.

Craftsman Found was married to Samantha and they had one son, Jaxson. He was also father to Michael from a previous relationship.

[Grace]

16 June 2011

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn.

Spc. Marcos A. Cintron, 32, of Orlando, Fla., died June 16 at a medical facility in Boston, Mass., of wounds suffered June 6 at Baghdad, Iraq, when insurgents attacked his unit with indirect fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

This soldier was one of the group who were killed in that early morning attack on 6 June 2011 - five others were killed instantly.

[Grace]

France

French Paratrooper Florian Morillon was killed in action on Saturday 18th June 2011 while on foot patrol in the Tagab valley, Kapisa province. His unit was attacked by enemy forces and 1re-classe Morillon was critically injured in an exchange of fire.

He was evacuated by helicopter to the French Military hospital in Kabul, where he later died from his wounds.

Prior to serving in Afghanistan, he served in Gabon and the Central African Republic. He deployed to Afghanistan mid-May 2011.

1re-classe Morillon served with the 1st Parachute Regiment.