In Memoriam

[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.

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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.

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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.

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7 February 2012

US Army Sergeant 1st Class Billy A. Sutton, died from a medical condition unrelated to combat in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan on 7th February 2012.

42-year-old Sgt Sutton, from Tupelo, Mississippi, served with the 223rd Engineer Battalion, 168th Engineer Brigade, Mississippi National Guard, based at West Point, Mississippi.

He enlisted in September 2001 and was married. He leaves his wife and stepson.

[mon]

No words can express the gratitude and debt we owe to the brave and fallen men and women

[Grace]

11 February 2012

24-year-old US Army Private 1st Class Cesar Cortez, from Oceanside, California, died on 11th February 2012 in Bahrain.

Pfc. Cortez, who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom from a base in Bahrain, served with the 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, based at Fort Bliss, Texas.