In Memoriam

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Barney F. Hajiro (September 16, 1916 – January 21, 2011) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_F._Hajiro

Video from NBC Nightly News

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Korea

Airman Missing in Action from Korean War is Identified

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

Air Force 1st Lt. Robert F. Dees, 23, of Moultrie, Ga., will be buried Jan. 22 at the Longstreet Historical Cemetery in Ozark, Ala. On Oct. 9, 1952, he was flying an F-84 Thunderjet, attacking several targets in North Korea. After he and three aircraft from the 430th Fighter-Bomber Squadron completed their attack on their primary target, they began their bombing run against enemy boxcars on the railroad near Sinyang. Other members of his flight reported seeing an explosion near the target they were attacking. They believed it to be the crash of Dees’ aircraft and could not raise any radio contact with him. Airborne searches over the battlefield failed to locate him or his aircraft.

Following the armistice in 1953, the North Koreans repatriated 4,219 remains of U.S. and allied soldiers during Operation Glory. In November 1954, they turned over remains which they reported were recovered from Sinyang. Accompanying the remains were portions of a pilot’s flight suit and a pneumatic life preserver. But after two attempts, the Army’s mortuary at Kokura, Japan, was unable to identify the remains. They were buried in 1956 as “unknown” at the Punch Bowl Cemetery in Hawaii.

Beginning in the late 1990s, analysts from DPMO and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) undertook a concentrated review of Korean War air losses, as well as a review of the Kokura mortuary files. They made a tentative association to Dees, based on U.S. wartime records as well as the information provided by the North Koreans. These remains were disinterred from the Punch Bowl Cemetery in June 2010.

Dees’ remains were identified by making extensive dental comparisons with his medical records.

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20 January 2011

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

Pfc. Amy R. Sinkler, 23, of Chadbourn, N.C., died Jan. 20 in Baghlan province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked her unit with a rocket propelled grenade. She was assigned to the 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Pfc. Sinkler was the gunner in the turret of her Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected vehicle. They were in a convoy en route to Forward Operating Base Killaghey in Baghlan province, Afghanistan.

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Poland

Pvt. Marcin Pastusiak

From: Poland
Age: 26
Unit: Oddziale Specjalnym Zandarmerii Wojskowej (Militay Police Special Branch)
Died: January 22, 2011

Killed along with a civilian medic, Marcin Knap, when a roadside bomb detonated during a patrol southeast of Ghazni in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.

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England

It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Private Martin Simon George Bell from 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday 25 January 2011.

Ministry of Defence statement

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25 January 2011

The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Tech. Sgt. Leslie D. Williams, 36, of Juneau, Alaska, died Jan. 25 due to a non-combat related incident at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 4th Maintenance Group, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.

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28 January 2011

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

Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Venetz Jr., 30, of Prince William, Va., died Jan. 28 in Parwan province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained in a non-combat incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.