In Memoriam

[Grace]

25 January 2012

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – According to the Dept. of Defense, 1st Lt. David A. Johnson, 24, of Horicon, Wis., died Jan. 25, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered after encountering an improvised explosive device (IED) while conducting a dismounted patrol. 1st Lt. Johnson was a platoon leader assigned to 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

According to unit records, Johnson was commissioned in 2010 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), and he is a graduate of Evangel University, Springfield, Mo. In 2011 he attended the Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Benning, Ga. He arrived at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in August 2011, and was assigned to 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in December. This was 1st Lt. Johnson’s first deployment.

Article from local paper

[Grace]

22 January 2012

US Marine Captain Joshua C. Pairsh, who was supporting Afghanistan's Operation Enduring Freedom, died in the United States on 22nd January 2012 from a non-combat related illness.


29-year-old Captain Pairsh, from Illinois, was assigned to 4th Civil Affairs Group, Marine Forces Reserve, based in Washington, D.C.

Joshua Pairsh was from the small village of Equality in southeastern Illinois. A 2004 Cum Laude graduate of Murray State University in Kentucky, Pairsh earned a Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He had been deployed to Iraq in 2007-2008.

Pairsh was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve. He was a ground supply officer with 4th Civil Affairs Group, based out of Washington, D.C. He had been promoted to a Marine Corps captain in the fall of 2010.

Captain Joshua C. Pairsh died January 22nd after returning to the US from Afghanistan on January 3rd. He was 29 years old and had come down with what was reported to be a “non-combat related illness.” According to the Evansville Courier & Press site:

Capt. Joshua C. Pairsh, 29, of Equality died Sunday at a hospital in Washington, D.C.

Family members said Pairsh contracted pneumonia while serving in Afghanistan and was transferred to a hospital in Germany where he was diagnosed with lymphoma and was later transferred to the Washington, D.C., hospital…

His remains were cremated, according to a spokesperson with the Vickery Funeral Home in Equality, and will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery with a graveside service set for 3 p.m. Feb. 15. A local memorial service is also planned.


Captain Pairsh is survived by his wife, Tanya, and two children, Avery and Lawson.

[Grace]

3 February 2012

From the Washington Post

FORT HOOD, Texas — A 49-year-old brigadier general died Friday in Afghanistan of apparent natural causes, the U.S. Army said, and he is among the highest-ranking service members to die there.

Fort Hood announced Brig. Gen. Terence Hildner’s death Saturday in a statement posted on its website. Hildner had commanded the 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command at Fort Hood since August 2010. He left for Afghanistan in December to support the NATO mission there.

The Army said his death was under investigation, although it appeared natural.

“This is a tragic loss for the Army, III Corps and for our Central Texas community,” Lt. Gen. Don Campbell Jr., Fort Hood’s commanding general, said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”

The 13th ESC led by Hildner supports other units, handling the distribution of everything from clothing to ammunition and performing maintenance on equipment, according to its website. It includes the 1st Medical Brigade, which provides health care and combat medical service.

Hildner served in Iraq during both Operation Desert Storm and the 2003 U.S.-led war. He also served in Kuwait and was part of the last U.S. patrol along the East-West German border before its reunification.

He assumed command of the 13th Corps Support Command’s Special Troops Battalion at Fort Hood in 2003 and was in charge during two deployments, one in Iraq and one following Hurricane Katrina. In Iraq, the battalion provided general logistical support to units around Joint Base Balad and the Abu Gharib prison complex. It provided military and humanitarian support after Katrina swamped New Orleans.

Hildner was born in New Haven, Conn., and listed Fairfax, Va., as his official home. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 and attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1997.

From July 2007 to July 2009, Hildner led the 23rd Quartermaster Brigade at Fort Lee, Va., training more than 20,000 soldiers a year for deployment worldwide.

Col. Knowles Atchison, 13th ESC rear commander, said in a statement that Hildner’s death was a shock to the unit.

“Both forward deployed elements and we at home station are deeply saddened by this loss,” he said. “We will all pull together through this difficult period and care for one another.”

[Grace]

Britain

British Gurkha, Lance Corporal Gajbahadur Gurung, serving with the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, was killed in Afghanistan on Friday 27th January 2012.

L-Cpl Gurung was on a foot patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand when he was shot and died from the wound. Born in Majthana, Nepal, in October 1985, he joined the Brigade of Gurkhas in December 2004. After he completed training in the UK, he joined 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles and served both in Brunei and Britain.

Known as 'Gaj' to his friends, L-Cpl Gurung served three times in Afghanistan. First in 2006 with 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, and again in 2008. Major Spiro Christopher Marcandonatos, Officer Commanding D (Delhi) Company, 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, said: "I have known Lance Corporal Gurung for nearly three years. An extraordinary individual, he made an impression from the very first time I met him. Bright and well-educated, he was most definitely a 'people person' who abided by all the right values; a true Gurkha at heart, with a Western twist."

He leaves behind his wife Manisha, father Gum Bahadur, mother Lekh Maya, his brother Buddha and sister Junu.

[Grace]

31 January 2012

23-year-old US Marine Sergeant William C. Stacey, died on 31st January 2012 during combat operations in Helmand province. He served with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton, California.

Sgt. Stacey joined the Marine Corps in January 2007. This was his second deployment to Afghanistan.

His personal awards include the Purple Heart, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Unit Commendation, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two bronze star devices, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with silver star device, and the NATO Medal-ISAF Afghanistan.

[Grace]

1 February 2012

22-year-old US Marine Lance Cpl. Edward J. Dycus, from Mississippi, was killed on 1st February 2012 in Helmand province.

L-Cpl Dycus served with the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

The US Department of Defense said the incident leading to his death was under investigation. However, according to various news reports, L-Cpl. Dycus was killed by an Afghan Army soldier who was guarding a joint operating base with him.

[Grace]

World War I

Last Known WWI Veteran Dies at 110

LONDON February 7, 2012 (AP)

Florence Green, the world's last known veteran of World War I, has died at the age of 110, the care home where she lived said Tuesday.

Briar House Care Home in King's Lynn, England, said Green died Saturday, two weeks before her 111th birthday.

Born Florence Beatrice Patterson in London on Feb. 19, 1901, she joined the Women's Royal Air Force in September 1918 at the age of 17.

She went to work as a waitress in the officers' mess at RAF Marham in eastern England, and was serving there when the war ended in November 1918.

Green remembered her wartime service with affection.

"I met dozens of pilots and would go on dates," she said in an interview in 2008. "I had the opportunity to go up in one of the planes but I was scared of flying. I would work every hour God sent. But I had dozens of friends on the base and we had a great deal of fun in our spare time. In many ways, I had the time of my life."

She was officially recognized as a veteran when a researcher found her service record in the National Archives.

The RAF marked her 110th birthday in February 2011 with a cake.

Asked what it was like to be 110, Green said "It's not much different to being 109."

The war's last known combatant, Royal Navy veteran Claude Choules, died in Australia in May.

After his death, Green became the war's last known surviving service member from the war, according to the Order of the First World War, a U.S.-based group that tracks veterans.