In Memoriam

[Grace]

10 April 2011

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

Staff Sgt. Jose M. Caraballo Pietri, 32, of Yauco, Puerto Rico, died April 10 in Badghis province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Baumholder, Germany.

[Grace]

10 April 2011

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn.

Sgt. Vorasack T. Xaysana, 30, of Westminster, Colo., died April 10 in Kirkuk, Iraq, of injuries sustained April 9 in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Fort Hood, Texas.

[Grace]

11 April 2011

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

Spc. Brent M. Maher, 31, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, died April 11 in Paktia province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, Iowa National Guard, Shenandoah, Iowa.

[Grace]

Korea

Soldier Missing from Korean War 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, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Cpl. John W. Lutz, 21, of Kearny, N.J., will be buried tomorrow at Arlington National Cemetery. From May 16-20, 1951, Task Force Zebra, a multinational force made up of Dutch, French, and U.S. forces, was attacked and isolated into smaller units. Lutz, of the 1st Ranger Infantry Company, part of Task Force Zebra, went missing while his unit was attempting to infiltrate enemy lines near Chaun-ni, South Korea, along the Hongcheon River Valley.

After the 1953 armistice, surviving POWs said Lutz had been captured by enemy forces on May 19, marched north to a POW camp in Suan County, North Korea, and died of malnutrition in July 1951.

Between 1991-94, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 servicemen. North Korean documents turned over with one of the boxes indicated the remains inside were exhumed near Suan County. This location correlates with the corporal’s last known location.

Analysts from DPMO developed case leads with information spanning more than 58 years. Through interviews with surviving POW eyewitnesses, experts validated circumstances surrounding the soldier’s captivity and death, confirming wartime documentation of his loss.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used dental comparisons and mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of his niece—in the identification of the remains.

More than 2,000 servicemen died as prisoners of war during the Korean War. With this accounting, 8,001 service members still remain missing from the conflict. For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703- 699-1169.

[cassiesmom]

Grace, I'm going to hijack your thread for just a moment. I heard this story on the news last evening.

WASHINGTON (WBBM) – A wounded U.S. Marine hopes to come home to Antioch next month, one year after losing both arms and legs in Afghanistan.

As WBBM Newsradio 780′s Regine Schlesinger reports, Marine Cpl. John Peck, 25, is now at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, learning to live as a quadruple amputee.

Peck suffered a head wound when he fought in Iraq, but when he recovered, he re-enlisted and went to Afghanistan.

A year ago while on patrol, he volunteered as his unit’s minesweeper to look for IEDs.

“I took a step forward; the next thing I know, I’m being flung through the air. Dirt’s in my eyes; I can barely see anything at all,” Peck said.

When he woke from a drug-induced coma two months later, Peck had lost both arms and both legs. He says it’s a struggle, but he has no regrets about his service.

“If I still had my arms, and I was missing a leg or even both my legs, I’d still probably go back,” he said.

Peck says he hopes Americans appreciate the sacrifices of so many soldiers.

His message to them is: “Care about someone besides yourself. Stop bickering. There’s guys out there every day fighting for your freedom.”

Through 27 operations, Peck has had 81 transfusions of blood products. On May 9, LifeSource and the VFW will hold a blood drive for Peck at the VFW Hall in Antioch.


So-- not only in memoriam but also a prayer for wounded soldiers too.
Thank you, and I now return you to your regularly scheduled topic--
elyse

[Grace]

10 April 2011

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

Pvt. Brandon T. Pickering, 21, of Fort Thomas, Ky., died April 10 in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire and a rocket propelled grenade in Wardak province, Afghanistan, April 8. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.

[Grace]

13 April 2011

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

Spc. Donald L. Nichols, 21, of Shell Rock, Iowa, died April 13, in Laghman province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, Iowa Army National Guard, Waterloo, Iowa.

[Grace]

World War II

Airman Missing in Action from WWII Identified

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

Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Martin P. Murray, 21, of Lowell, Mass., will be buried on April 16 in Marshfield, Mass. Murray, along with 11 other crew members, took off on Oct. 27, 1943, in their B-24D Liberator from an airfield near Port Moresby, New Guinea. Allied plans were being formulated to mount an attack on the Japanese redoubt at Rabaul, New Britain. The crew’s assigned area of reconnaissance was the nearby shipping lanes in the Bismarck Sea. But during their mission, they were radioed to land at a friendly air strip nearby due to poor weather conditions. The last radio transmission from the crew did not indicate their location. Multiple search missions in the following weeks did not locate the aircraft.

Following World War II, the Army Graves Registration Service conducted searches for 43 missing airmen, including Murray, in the area but concluded in June 1949 that all were unrecoverable.

In August 2003, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) received information on a crash site from a citizen in Papua New Guinea while it was investigating another case. The citizen also turned over an identification card from one of the crew members and reported that there were possible human remains at the site of the crash. Twice in 2004 other JPAC teams attempted to visit the site but were unable to do so due to poor weather and hazardous conditions at the helicopter landing site. Another team was able to successfully excavate the site from January to March 2007 where they found several identification tags from the B-24D crew as well as human remains.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used dental comparisons and mitochondrial DNA in the identification of Murray’s remains.

At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 74,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict. For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169.

[Grace]

Army Released March Suicide Data

The Army released suicide data today for the month of March. Among active-duty soldiers, there were seven potential suicides: none have been confirmed as suicide, and seven remain under investigation. For February 2011, the Army reported eight potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, one case has been confirmed as suicide, and seven cases remain under investigation.

During March 2011, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were eight potential suicides: none have been confirmed as suicide, and eight remain under investigation. For February 2011, among that same group, there were eight total potential suicides. Of those, three were confirmed as suicides and five are pending determination of the manner of death.

“Army efforts to improve suicide prevention awareness, education and support that is readily available to all members of the Army family continue to be of paramount importance to senior Army leadership. Informed and engaged leaders at every level help foster a sense of responsibility in soldiers, Army civilians and family members.” said Col. Chris Philbrick, deputy director, Army Health Promotion, Risk Reduction Task Force. “Leaders will reduce the stigma associated with seeking help by promoting positive behavioral health opportunities that include physical, emotional, social, family and spiritual well-being,” Philbrick said.

Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Trained consultants are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and can be contacted by dialing 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or by visiting their website at http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org .

The Army's comprehensive list of Suicide Prevention Program information is located at http://www.preventsuicide.army.mil .

Army leaders can access current health promotion guidance in newly revised Army Regulation 600-63 (Health Promotion) at: http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r600_63.pdf and Army Pamphlet 600-24 (Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention) at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p600_24.pdf .

Suicide prevention training resources for Army families can be accessed at http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicid...asp?sub_cat=20 (requires Army Knowledge Online access to download materials).

Information about Military OneSource is located at http://www.militaryonesource.com or by dialing the toll-free number 1-800-342-9647for those residing in the continental United States. Overseas personnel should refer to the Military OneSource website for dialing instructions for their specific location.

Information about the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program is located at http://www.army.mil/csf/ .

The Defense Center for Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) Outreach Center can be contacted at 1-866-966-1020, via electronic mail at [email protected] and at http://www.dcoe.health.mil .

The website for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is http://www.afsp.org/ and the Suicide Prevention Resource Council site is found at http://www.sprc.org/index.asp .

The website for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors is http://www.TAPS.org and they can be reached at 1-800-959-TAPS (8277).

[Grace]

All that information about suicide prevention was too late for Clay Hunt.


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