In Memoriam

[Grace]

Poland

Polish Army Lance-Corporal Paweł Poświat was killed in Ghazni province on 28th July 2011 when a road mine detonated beneath his armored patrol vehicle. L-Cpl. Poświat, age 29, was driving the vehicle at the time of the explosion.

Seriously injured, he was evacuated by helicopter to the Polish military base hospital in Ghazni. Sadly, doctors were unable to save his life.

L-Cpl. Poświat, a bachelor, joined the Polish Army in 2003 and served with the 17th Wielkopolska Mechanized Brigade.

[Grace]

29 July 2011

22-year-old Oklahoma Army National Guardsman, Augustus 'Augy' Vicari was killed in action on Friday 29th July 2011 when his patrol vehicle struck a roadside bomb. He had deployed to Afghanistan in June.

The soldier, who graduated from Lowell High School, Indiana, in 2008 was married and lived in Oklahoma. He joined the Oklahoma National Guard in 2009. He and his wife, Holly, would have celebrated their first wedding anniversary in September.

A "quick wit and ready smile" is how family and friends are remembering Augustus Vicari, one of five children.

[Grace]

29 July 2011

US Army officer 2nd Lieutenant Jered W. Ewy was one of two Oklahoma National Guardsmen killed in action on 29th July 2011 when a bomb detonated as they were on patrol in Paktia, Afghanistan.

2nd Lt. Ewy, age 33, was serving with the 1st Battalion, 279th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

Also killed in the same incident was Spc. Augustus Vicari

[wombat2u2004]

"The Last of the First"
The first offensive action of the United States during World War II was on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands by the United States Marine Corps.
August 7, 1942.The First Marine Division fought on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Cape Gloucester,New Britian, New Guinea, Peleliu, Okinawa.
There is a bottle of 1st Grand Cru Cognac, (circa 1920-25) that is to be opened by the last survivor among the Marines and sailors who served in combat with the division during WW II. It was estimated that it would be opened by 2010. It is in the Marines' Memorial Club in San Francisco and is in the custody of the First Marine Division Association.
Navy Pharmacist Mates served side by side with the Marines. Wore out uniforms but with their insignia. They were our beloved "Corpsman".
136 KIA with the 1st Division.
Who knows? Maybe I will be the one to raise the glass in a toast to a truly great Division.

Fideli Certa Merces - To the faithful there is just reward
Semper Fidelis -Always Faithful
To be a Marine is enough
Pfc. Thomas C. Reedy, Jr.
566495Company C, 1st Battalion,
7th Regiment First Marine Division
United States Marine Corps 1944-46

[Grace]

31 July 2011

Hawaii-based US Army Sergeant William B. GrossPaniagua, from Daly City, California, was killed in action on 31st July 2011 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when an insurgent bomb detonated against his patrol vehicle.

28-year-old Sgt. GrossPaniagua served with the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Sgt. GrossPaniagua enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 2005 as a Combat Engineer. He previously served in Iraq in 2008 and this was his first deployment to Afghanistan.

[Grace]

31 July 2011

US Army Pfc. Brice M. Scott, age 22, was killed in action on Sunday 31st July 2011 near Kandahar, Afghanistan, during a contact with enemy forces involving small-arms fire.

Pfc. Scott, on his first deployment to Afghanistan, was a father and former North Eugene High School student in Oregon. On joining the Army, he continued a family tradition of military service going back generations.

His family told local news that "he sought out the action of the front line and died doing the job he loved."

Pfc. Scott served with the 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort Riley, Kansas.

[Grace]

1 August 2011

32-year-old US Marine Staff Sergeant Leon H. Lucas Jr., from Wilson, North Carolina, died while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan on 1st August 2011.

Staff Sgt. Lucas served with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based at Twentynine Palms, California.