In Memoriam

[Grace]

6 October 2011

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

Lance Cpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt, 24, of San Antonio, Texas, died Oct. 6 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

This incident is under investigation.

Article with photo from hometown paper.

[Grace]

8 October 2011

US Army Specialist Ricardo Cerros Jr was killed in action in Logar province on 8th October 2011 during a gun battle with enemy forces. He died from gunshot wounds.

24-year-old Spc. Cerros, from Salinas, California, served with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. He enlisted in the Army in July 2010 and joined the Rangers in March this year. This was his first deployment to Afghanistan.

Lt. Col. David Hodne, Commander of 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, said about Spc. Cerros: “He was a warrior who lost his life while fighting courageously alongside his fellow Rangers. We will honor his service to our country and never forget his sacrifice. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Cerros family.”

Spc. Cerros leaves his father and stepmother, Ricardo Cerros Sr. and Deborah Cerros, and his mother, Maqueirte Cuevas among other relatives and friends.

[Grace]

3 October 2011

19-year-old Alaska-based Private Danny Chen, from New York, died in Kandahar province, Afghanistan on 3rd October. Pvt. Chen served with the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Wainwright.

[Grace]

8 October 2011

Army Capt. Joshua S. Lawrence
29, of Nashville, Tenn.
Assigned to 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died Oct. 8 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds caused by a rocket propelled grenade.

Article from hometown paper

[Grace]

8 October 2011

Army Capt. Drew E. Russell, 25, of Scotts, Mich.; assigned to 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died Oct. 8 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds caused by a rocket propelled grenade.

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'Ever since he was a little kid, he was in the Army'

The Associated Press

SCOTTS, Mich. — A 25-year-old Army captain from southwestern Michigan whose boyhood maneuvers with toy soldiers were more like training than play and who was planning a military career was killed along with a comrade from Tennessee when Afghan insurgents attacked their unit with a rocket propelled grenade, his family and the military said.

Capt. Drew E. Russell of Scotts and Capt. Joshua Lawrence, 29, of Nashville, Tenn., died Saturday after enemy forces attacked their unit in Kandahar province, the Defense Department announced Monday.

Russell's hometown is in Kalamazoo County, about 10 miles southeast of Kalamazoo.

Russell and Lawrence were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo.

Russell graduated from Vicksburg High School in 2004 and entered Western Michigan University as an ROTC student, graduating in 2008 with a double major in criminal justice and military science, the Kalamazoo Gazette reported.

Jim Russell, 59, said his son planned a military career. He said his son spent long hours as a child arranging units of toy soldiers around the house and staging mock battles. It was more practice than play, the father said.

"I always looked at him and wondered if he was (Gen. George) Patton," the father told The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colo. "Ever since he was a little kid, he was in the Army. That's what he wanted."

Russell also had a playful side, his father said. He once broke into a friend's house while she was on vacation and ripped the labels off of every can of food.

"She spent three or four months guessing what dinner was going to be," his father said.

Russell's first overseas deployment was to Afghanistan, starting June 13. He was responsible for U.S. and Afghan soldiers at police stations around Afghanistan, his family said.

"He was a wonderful son," said mother Patti Russell, 52. "He was very loving and he had a great sense of humor. There's just an empty hole in my heart that will never be filled again."

Russell's remains were flown to Dover, Del., Air Force Base on Monday afternoon.

"Drew won't even be able to have kids," Jim Russell said as he choked back tears. "What do you say? He had a good future in front of him."

Drew Russell is also survived by his brother, James. Funeral plans were not immediately announced.

[Grace]

10 October 2011

Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 James B. Wilke, 38, of Ione, Calif.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, Fort Bliss, Texas; died Oct. 10 in Doha, Qatar, in a noncombat incident

Article and picture from local paper

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10 October 2011

Army Sgt. Nathan L. Wyrick, 34, of Enumclaw, Wash.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.; died Oct. 10 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of combat-related injuries.

Article from local paper

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Update on post #1691 - Army Private Danny Chen - he may have committed suicide following abuse by others in his unit.

US Army Pvt. Danny Chen death subject to criminal investigation
MANHATTAN: The US Army's criminal investigations unit is probing the death of a soldier from Manhattan who was killed in Afghanistan early this month.

Army Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, who grew up in Chinatown and went to school on the Lower East Side, died on Oct. 3 in Kandahar Province, the military said last week.

Chen’s parents reportedly said military personnel informed them that their son had been subjected to harassment and physical abuse by fellow soldiers and may have committed suicide. Reports indicate that Chen died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Read full story at DNAinfo.com Manhattan Local News