In Memoriam

[Grace]

9 January 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. The initial press release had an incorrect name due to a clerical error. However, the correct family was notified by Marine Corps officials.

Lance Cpl. Mark D. Juarez, 23, of San Antonio, Texas, died Jan. 9 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

[Grace]

10 January 2010

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

Lance Cpl. Jacob A. Meinert, 20, of Fort Atkinson, Wis., died Jan. 10 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

[Grace]

Iraq -

There have been 4,693 coalition deaths -- 4,376 Americans, two Australians, one Azerbaijani, 179 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, five Georgians, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one Kazakh, three Latvians, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, one South Korean, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the Iraq war as of January 11, 2010, according to a CNN count.

At least 31,616 U.S. Troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon.

[Grace]

Afghanistan

There have been 1,569 coalition deaths -- 947 Americans, 11 Australians, one Belgian, 246 Britons, 138 Canadians, three Czech, 29 Danes, 21 Dutch, seven Estonians, one Finn, 37 French, 31 Germans, two Hungarians, 22 Italians, three Latvian, one Lithuanian, four Norwegians, 16 Poles, two Portuguese, 11 Romanians, one South Korean, 27 Spaniards, two Swedes and two Turks -- in the war on terror as of January 11, 2010, according to a CNN count.

At least 4,748 U.S. personnel have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon. In addition to the military deaths, one Jordanian and 11 U.S. intelligence operatives have died in Afghanistan.

[Grace]

6 January 2010

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

Pfc. Michael R. Jarrett, 20, of North Platte, Neb., died Jan. 6 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, Illesheim, Germany.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

[Grace]

From 1967 - and the Vietnam conflict -

Air Force Pilot Missing In Action From Vietnam War Is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial.

Air Force Maj. Russell C. Goodman of Salt Lake City, Utah, will be honored this week at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., home of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbird demonstration team. At the time of his loss, Goodman was assigned to the Thunderbirds and was flying with the U.S. Navy on an exchange program. He will be buried in Alaska at a date determined by his family.

On Feb. 20, 1967, Goodman and Navy Lt. Gary L. Thornton took off in their F-4B Phantom from the USS Enterprise for a bombing mission against a railroad yard in Thanh Hoa Province, North Vietnam. They were struck by enemy antiaircraft fire and their plane exploded. Thornton was able to eject at just 250 feet altitude, but Goodman did not escape. Thornton survived and was held captive until his release in 1973.

Search and rescue attempts were curtailed because of heavy anti-aircraft and automatic weapons fire in the area of the crash.

Between October 1993 and March 2008, joint U.S.-Vietnamese teams led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) investigated the crash site twice and conducted two excavations, recovering human remains and pilot equipment. The aircraft debris recovered correlates with the type of aircraft the men were flying.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA – which matched two of his maternal relatives -- in the identification of Goodman’s remains.

[Grace]

FRANCE

11 January 2010

Staff Sgt. Mathieu Toinette, 27, of Reunion, France.
402e Régiment d'Artillerie (402nd Artillery Regiment), assigned to a French Operational Mentoring Liaison Team

Killed when a joint French-Afghan National Army patrol was attacked during a foot patrol in the village of Alasay, Kapisa province, Afghanistan, on January 11, 2010. Another soldier wounded in the attack died the next day.