In Memoriam

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England

It is with regret that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Lance Corporal Paul Watkins, from 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's), was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday 16 July 2011.

Ministry of Defence statement.

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17 July 2011

US Army Private 1st Class Tyler M. Springman was one of two American soldiers killed by a bomb blast in Kandahar province on 17th July 2011.

Pfc. Springman, age 19 from Hartland, Maine, served with the Alaska-based 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

US Army Sergeant 1st Class Kenneth B. Elwell was one of two American soldiers killed by a bomb blast in Kandahar province on 17th July 2011.

Sfc. Elwell, age 33 from Holland, Pa., served with the Alaska-based 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

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World War II

Missing World War II Soldiers Identified

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

Army Pfc. Lawrence N. Harris, of Elkins, W.V., Cpl. Judge C. Hellums, of Paris, Miss., and Pvt. Donald D. Owens, of Cleveland, will be buried as a group, in a single casket, on July 20 in Arlington National Cemetery. In late September 1944, their unit, the 773rd Tank Battalion, was fighting its way east to France’s eastern border, clearing German forces out of the Parroy Forest near Lunéville. On Oct. 9, 1944, in the final battle for control of the region, Hellums, Harris, Owens and two other soldiers were attacked by enemy fire in their M-10 Tank Destroyer. Two men survived with serious injuries but Harris, Hellums and Owens were reported to have been killed. Evidence at the time indicated the remains of the men had been destroyed in the attack and were neither recovered nor buried near the location.

In November 1946, a French soldier working in the Parroy Forest found debris associated with an M-10 vehicle and human remains, which were turned over to the American Graves Registration Command. The remains were buried as unknowns in what is now known as the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium. A year later the AGRC returned to the Parroy Forest to conduct interviews and search for additional remains. Investigators noted at that time that all remains of U.S. soldiers had reportedly been removed in the last two years and that the crew was likely buried elsewhere as unknowns.

In 2003, a French citizen exploring the Parroy Forest discovered human remains and an identification bracelet engraved with Hellums’ name, from a site he had probed occasionally since 1998. The information was eventually sent to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). In April 2006, the man turned over the items to a JPAC team working in Europe. A few months later a second JPAC team returned to the site and recovered more human remains, personal effects and an identification tag for Owens.

Historians at DPMO and JPAC continued their research on the burials at the Ardennes Cemetery, and drew a correlation to those unknowns removed from the 1944 battle site. In early 2008 JPAC disinterred these remains and began their forensic review.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons for the men and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of each soldier’s relatives in the identification of their remains.

At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 72,000 remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.

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15 July 2011

US Marine Lance Corporal Christopher L. Camero died on 15th July 2011 from wounds suffered on 6th July while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

The 19-year-old, from Kailia Kona, Hawaii, served with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division based at Twentynine Palms, California.

Friends of L-Cpl. Camero posted the news of his death on the Internet, saying he had stepped on a homemade bomb while on a patrol, his legs had to be amputated and that he had been on life support since being wounded.

L-Cpl. Camero chronicled his deployment to Afghanistan on his Facebook page, posting photos of himself on a plane heading for Germany, then Kyrgyzstan, arriving in Afghanistan on 12th April.

His unit of about 1,000 Marines patrols Nahr-e-saraj district south of Sangin, where some of the heaviest recent fighting has occurred, and north of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.

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17 July 2011

US Marine Lance Corporal Jabari N. Thompson, age 22, of Brooklyn, N.Y., died on 17th July 2011 from wounds he received on 13th July while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

L-Cpl. Thompson, from Brooklyn, New York, served with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

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England

British Army Corporal Mark Anthony Palin from 1st Battalion The Rifles was killed in action in the Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand province on 18th July 2011. He was leading a patrol to clear an enemy explosives cache when a hidden bomb exploded near him.

32-year-old Corporal Palin was born in Plymouth and joined the Army in 1996. He served in Germany, Northern Ireland and Iraq before deploying to Afghanistan in April this year.

Lieutenant Colonel James de Labillière DSO MBE, Commanding Officer, 1 RIFLES said: "Corporal Mark Palin was a Battalion personality through and through. He thrived on the friendship of many, and was generous to a fault in the friendship he gave in return. Indeed this was the very essence of the man; always putting others first, and taking huge enjoyment in making others smile and laugh, no matter how difficult the circumstances."

Corporal Palin leaves behind his wife Carla, young son Lennon, father Paul, brother Matthew and sister Louise.

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Another Medal of Honor

The Military Times brings us word that a third living soldier will receive the Medal of Honor. He is Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer, 22, a scout sniper who left active duty in June 2010, and now resides in Austin, Texas.

Meyer was on a mission to meet with tribal elders in Afghanistan, in a village close to the Pakistani border, on September 8, 2009. They came under attack from heavily armed insurgents who outnumbered them more than four to one. Frantic pleas for artillery support were refused, leading to letters of reprimand for several of the officers in charge of the operation.

The officers might have been negligent, but Cpl. Meyer was amazing:

Meyer, then 21, went into the kill zone on foot after helicopter pilots called on to respond said they could not help retrieve the four missing service members because the fighting on the ground was too fierce, according to a witness statement he provided the military. He found his buddies in a trench where pilots had spotted them.

“I checked them all for a pulse. There [sic] bodies were already stiff,” Meyer said in a sworn statement he was asked to provide military investigators. “I found SSgt Kenefick facedown in the trench w/ his GPS in his hand. His face appeared as if he were screaming. He had been shot in the head.”

Meyer was already suffering from shrapnel wounds at the time. He nevertheless assisted in the retrieval of the bodies. All four of the fallen soldiers were subsequently honored with Bronze Stars.

Two other Marines involved in the battle were awarded the Navy Cross for their heroic actions. Captain Ademola Fabayo threw himself into close-quarters battle with the insurgents, and carried a wounded comrade to safety. Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez made three trips into the kill zone with a Humvee, while Cpl. Meyer manned its machine gun turret. Meyer went into the zone on foot when they couldn’t find the missing men from the Humvee.

During the award ceremony for Capt. Fabayo and Staff Sgt. Rodriguez-Chavez, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said their story “doesn’t need any other explanation… whatever words there are, they’re not adequate in adding anything to the actions of that day.”

True, but words are how we share the incredible treasures of courage our nation has been blessed with. They are how we remember the heroes we have lost, and give thanks for those who made it home. Corporal Dakota Meyer will be the first living Marine to receive the Medal of Honor since Vietnam. Spread the word.