In Memoriam

[Grace]

Australia

Sergeant Todd Matthew Langley, age 35, from the Sydney-based 2nd Commando regiment, was killed in action during a battle with enemy forces in southern Afghanistan on 4th July 2011. He died on the battlefield from gun shot wounds to the head.

Sgt. Langley was on his fifth deployment to Afghanistan and had previously deployed twice to East Timor. He had been awarded two Commendations for Distinguished Service in 2002 and again in 2008. In 2006 he was awarded a Unit Citation for Gallantry

Sgt. Langley was born in Western Australia in 1976. He joined the Army in 1993 and served with 1 RAR. In 2004, he completed the Commando selection course and was posted to the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Commando), now 2nd Commando Regiment.

[Grace]

Vietnam

Air Force Pilot Missing from Vietnam War Identified

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

Air Force Maj. Richard G. Elzinga of Shedd, Ore., will be buried on July 8 in Arlington National Cemetery. On March 26, 1970, Elzinga and his co-pilot went missing when their O-1G Birddog aircraft failed to return to base from a familiarization flight over Laos. Fifteen minutes after the last radio contact, a communication and visual search showed no sign of the men or their aircraft. Search and rescue missions continued for two days with no results.

Between 1994 and 2009, joint U.S.-Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams led by Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, analyzed leads, interviewed villagers and surveyed possible crash site locations. During several joint field surveys, teams recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, and crew-related equipment.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of his aunt and cousin -- in the identification of Elzinga’s remains.

[Grace]

Azerbaijan

An Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane belonging to Silk Way Airlines of Azerbaijan crashed into a mountainside in Afghanistan's Parwan Province at approximately 21.10 GMT on 5th July. The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Bagram military base, carrying cargo for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Body parts have been found with the wreckage of the plane although no formal identifications have been possible.

It is not thought that any of the crew could have survived the crash. The airline has released the names of the nine crew members on board the aircraft.

1. Captain Sergey Kuzmin (born in 1969)
2. Co-pilot Oleg Marshikhin (born in 1979, from Azerbaijan)
3. Navigator Igor Zheng (born in 1966)
4. Engineer Vladimir Shatobin (born in 1969)
5. Radio operator Ahmedjan Khajayev (born in 1955, from Azerbajian)
6. Radio operator Elnur Mahmudov (born in 1981, from Azerbaijan)
7. Onboard operator Tapdig Gahramanov (born in 1964, from Azerbaijan)
8. Mechanic Afghan Rahimov (born in 1980, from Azerbaijan)
9. Mechanic Mehman Huseynov (born in 1962, from Azerbaijan)

[Grace]

5 July 2011

US Army soldier Preston J. Suter, 22, Sandy, Utah, was killed in action in Afghanistan on Tuesday 5th July 2011. He was riding in a patrol vehicle when a roadside bomb detonated beside it.

Two other US soldiers died in the blast -
Sergeant Joshua Throckmorton and Spc. Jordan Schumann.

[Grace]

5 July 2011

24-year-old US Army Spc Jordan C. Schumann was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday 5th July 2011 by the blast of a roadside bomb while he was in a Humvee patrol vehicle.

Spc. Schumann, son of a Port St Lucie, Florida family, graduated from St Lucie West Centennial in 2006 and is survived by his wife Sarah, their unborn baby due in September, his parents Clay and Linda, brother Clay Jr., and sister Heather.

[Grace]

5 July 2011

US Army Sergeant Joshua Throckmorton, age 28, was killed in action in Afghanistan on Tuesday 5th July 2011. Sgt. Throckmorton was a native of Battle Creek, Michigan and a father of three.

Sgt. Throckmorton was most recently stationed in Germany, but had previously spent fifteen months in Iraq and was three months in to a one year deployment in Afghanistan.

Article from his hometown paper.

[Grace]

5 July 2011

US Army Sergeant Nicanor Amper IV was killed in Khowst, Afghanistan when enemy forces attacked his unit with a rocket propelled grenade on 5th July 2011.

36-year-old Sgt. Nicanor, from San Jose, California, served with 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Sgt. Amper was married and had two sons from a previous marriage.