In Memoriam

[Daisy and Delilah]

It was one year ago tonight when I started this topic. 75 pages, 744 posts later, we are no closer to the end of war.

Why do we think we can accomplish what many have tried before? Alexander the Great, the British and Russians - they could not win in Afghanistan.

So we keep sending our young men and women (and some not so young) to that God-forsaken country. For what - to come home in a flag-draped box?

We should be ashamed of ourselves.

I am in total agreement, Gretchen.

[Grace]

This just blows my mind - after all this time . . . . .

WWII

Seven Missing WWII Airmen Identified

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of seven servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Army Capt. Joseph M. Olbinski, Chicago; 1st Lt. Joseph J. Auld, Floral Park, N.Y.; 1st Lt. Robert M. Anderson, Millen, Ga.; Tech. Sgt. Clarence E. Frantz, Tyrone, Penn.; Pfc. Richard M. Dawson, Haynesville, Va.; Pvt. Robert L. Crane, Sacramento, Calif.; and Pvt. Fred G. Fagan, Piedmont, Ala., were identified and all are to be interred July 15 in Arlington National Cemetery.

On May 23, 1944, the men were aboard a C-47A Skytrain that departed Dinjan, India, on an airdrop mission to resupply Allied forces near Myitkyina, Burma. When the crew failed to return, air and ground searches found no evidence of the aircraft along the intended flight path.

In late 2002, a missionary provided U.S. officials a data plate from a C-47 crash site approximately 31 miles northwest of Myitkyina. In 2003, a Burmese citizen turned over human remains and identification tags for three of the crew members.

A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team excavated the crash site in 2003 and 2004, recovering additional remains and crew-related equipment—including an identification tag for Dawson.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of some of the crewmembers’ families – as well as dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

[Grace]

England

It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that a Royal Marine was killed in southern Afghanistan yesterday, Thursday 1 July 2010. Next of kin have been informed.

At the request of the next of kin, no further information will be released at this time.

[Grace]

30 June 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sgt. 1st Class Kristopher D. Chapleau, 33, of LaGrange, Ky., died June 30 at Forward Operating Base Blessing, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

[Grace]

2 July 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Morganne M. McBeth, 19, of Fredricksburg, Va., died July 2 in Al Asad, Iraq, of wounds sustained July 1 in a non-combat related incident in Khan Al Baghdadi, Iraq. She was assigned to the 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

[Grace]

2 July 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt. Johnny W. Lumpkin, 38, of Columbus, Ga., died July 2 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained July 1 in a non-combat related equipment incident in Taji, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga

[Grace]

1 July 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Pfc. Ryan J. Grady, 25, of Bristow, Okla., died July 1 at Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised-explosive device. He was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Bradford, Vt.