In Memoriam

[Grace]

New Zealand

Lt. Timothy Andrew O'Donnell

From: Feilding, New Zealand
Age: 28
Unit: 2/1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment
Died: August 4, 2010

Killed when his mounted patrol was attacked with a roadside bomb, rocket-propelled grenades and other small arms fire in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan.

[Grace]

World War II

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, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Sgt. John P. Bonnassiolle, U.S. Army, of Oakland, Calif. He will be buried Tuesday in San Francisco.

On April 29, 1944, he was aboard a B-24J Liberator with nine other crewmen. They failed to return following a bombing mission over Berlin. German documents captured after the war established the aircraft had crashed near the town of East Meitze, Germany, north of Hannover. German forces removed the remains of three crewmen from the site and buried them in a cemetery in Hannover.

In 1946, The U.S. Army’s Graves Registration Command located the remains of the men buried in Hannover and reburied them at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, after confirming the identities of two of the three.

In 2003, a German citizen began excavating the East Meitze crash site and turned over human remains to U.S. officials. A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team traveled to excavate the crash site in 2005 and 2007, recovering additional remains and crew-related equipment -- including identification tags for Bonnassiolle and three other crew members.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of Bonnassiolle’s sister -- in the identification of his 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. Today, more than 72,000 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.

[Grace]

4 August 2010

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

Master Sgt. Jared N. Van Aalst, 34, of Laconia, N.H., died Aug. 4 in Kunduz province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered while his unit was conducting combat operations. He was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

[Grace]

Poland

Pfc. Dariusz Tylenda

From: Poland
Age: 31
Unit: 15 Goldapski Pulk Przeciwlotniczylat (15th Air Defense Regiment)
Died: August 6, 2010

Killed when a roadside bomb detonated near his convoy in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.

[Grace]

six Americans, a Briton, a German and four Afghans - seven men and three women


Gunmen Kill Medical Aid Workers in Afghanistan

[Grace]

7 August 2010

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

Cpl. Max W. Donahue, 23, of Highlands Ranch, Colo., died Aug. 7 of wounds received Aug. 4 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

[Grace]

Denmark

Pfc. Erik Berre Rolandsen

From: Denmark
Age: 26
Unit: Kompagniet B, 1. Bataljon, Den Kongelige Livgarde (Company B, 1st Battalion, Royal Life Guards)
Died: August 7, 2010

One of two Danish soldiers killed when their infantry fighting vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Helmand province, Afghanistan.