In Memoriam

[Grace]

9 June 2010

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

Lance Cpl. Michael G. Plank, 25, of Cameron Mills, N.Y., died June 9 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

This incident is under investigation.

[Grace]

10 June 2010

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

Lance Cpl. Gavin R. Brummund, 22, of Arnold, Calif., died June 10 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

[Grace]

December 7, 1941

WWII Pearl Harbor Sailor Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman missing in action from World War II has been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is U.S. Navy Fireman Third Class Gerald G. Lehman, of Hancock, Mich. He will be buried Saturday in Hancock.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941, the battleship USS Oklahoma suffered multiple torpedo hits and capsized. As a result, 429 sailors and Marines died. Following the attack, 36 of these servicemen were identified and the remaining 393 were buried as unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 2003, an independent researcher contacted the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) with information he believed indicated that one of the USS Oklahoma casualties who was buried as an unknown could be positively identified. After reviewing the case, JPAC exhumed the casket and discovered that it contained Lehman’s remains.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used dental comparisons and mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of his sister and nieces -- in the identification of Lehman’s remains.

More than 400,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II died. At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 as known persons. They include those buried with honor as unknowns, those lost at sea, and those missing in action. That number also includes the 1,100 sailors entombed in the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Today, more than 72,000 Americans remain unaccounted-for from WW II.

[Grace]

Great Britain

Cpl. Terry Webster

From: Chester, England
Age: 24
Unit: 1st Battalion, The Mercian Regiment
Died: June 4, 2010

One of two British soldiers killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents during a patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj region of Helmand province, Afghanistan.

[Grace]

Great Britain

Lance Cpl. Alan Cochran

From: St. Asaph, Wales
Age: 23
Unit: Company B, 1st Battalion, The Mercian Regiment
Died: June 4, 2010

One of two British soldiers killed during a firefight with Taliban insurgents in the Nahr-e Saraj area of Helmand province, Afghanistan.

[Grace]

Canada

Sgt. Martin Goudreault

From: Sudbury, Ontario
Age: 35
Unit: 1 Combat Engineer Regiment, assigned to 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group
Died: June 6, 2010

Killed after a roadside bomb detonated during a foot patrol in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province, about 9.3 miles (15 km) southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

[Grace]

Poland

Sgt. Konrad Rygiel


From: Poland
Age: 28
Unit: 2e Régiment étranger de Parachutistes, Légion étrangère (2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment, French Foreign Legion)
Died: June 6, 2010

Killed by a rocket during a firefight that began when Taliban insurgents attacked French soldiers providing medical aid to a village in Kapisa province, Afghanistan.