In Memoriam

[Grace]

A brief FYI -

I will be away from my computer for the rest of the week. Any further notices will have to wait until I'm back - hopefully by Sunday.

[Grace]

4 September 2010

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

Sgt. Jesse M. Balthaser, 23, of Columbus, Ohio, died Sept. 4 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.

[Grace]

7 September 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation New Dawn.

They died Sept. 7 at Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered in a shooting incident in Salah ad-Din province. This incident is under investigation.

Killed were:

Sgt. Philip C. Jenkins, 26, of Decatur, Ind.

Pvt. James F. McClamrock, 22, of Huntersville, N.C.

They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

[Grace]

8 September 2010

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

Cpl. John C. Bishop, 25, of Columbus, Ind., died Sept. 8 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

[Grace]

9 September 2010

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

1st Lt. Todd W. Weaver, 26, of Hampton, Va., died Sept. 9 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

[Grace]

Hungary

2nd Lt. Gyorgy Kolozsvari

From: Papa, Hungary
Age: 36
Unit: 25. Klapka György Lövészdandár (25th Klapka Infantry Brigade)
Died: September 7, 2010

Died on September 7, 2010 at a military hospital in Budapest, Hungary, of wounds sustained when his convoy was attacked with a roadside bomb and small-arms fire 12.4 miles (20 km) northwest of Pul-e Khumri in Baghlan province, Afghanistan, on August 23, 2010. Another Hungarian soldier was killed in the attack.

[wombat2u2004]

September 04, 2010

Philadelphia Inquirer

Richard Etchberger died in Laos in 1968, saving fellow Americans at a top-secret radar station overrun by North Vietnamese commandos.

Etchberger, who grew up north of Reading, Pa., was nominated that year for the Medal of Honor. But there was a problem: The United States was not supposed to have troops in Laos. President Lyndon B. Johnson declined to award the medal.

On July 7 of this year, Etchberger's son, Cory, received a phone call. "Will you please hold for the president?" a woman asked.

President Obama then told Cory Etchberger that his father would finally receive the Medal of Honor.

"It's been a long time coming," Obama told Etchberger, 51, of Schwenksville, Montgomery County.

Cory Etchberger, who recounted the conversation with Obama, was 9 when his father died at Lima Site 85, which directed bombing missions into North Vietnam and Laos.

Richard Etchberger, a chief master sergeant in the Air Force, was selected to work at the radar station and was converted into a civilian employee of Lockheed so his presence in Laos would not technically violate that country's neutrality.

The radar station directed 507 strike missions against North Vietnamese targets from November 1967 until March 11, 1968, when enemy soldiers engaged the facility in a fierce battle, according to the Air Force.

Under withering fire, Etchberger loaded wounded comrades into slings to be raised into a rescue helicopter before coming aboard himself. He was mortally wounded by an armor-piercing bullet that had ripped through the chopper. He was 27.

Etchberger was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross in a secret Pentagon ceremony. His family, except for his parents, who were sworn to secrecy, was not told what really happened.

The mission was declassified years later, but Etchberger was not eligible for the Medal of Honor because of a time limit. In 2008, Congress approved a waiver.

His family will attend a White House medal ceremony on Sept. 21.