You can argue that these men did not fight for our freedom, that the US Army had no business in Iraq. I don't agree. For better or for worse, the US is the world's policeman. Personally, I think it's the former... I shiver at the thought that China would fulfill that role, e.g.
The US Armed Forces execute the strategy the government decides upon to 'act' as that policeman. Just like policemen sometimes die in the line of fire, it is inevitable that the chosen strategy, whether good or bad, will result in losses: KIA, WIA, MIA... The losses on that fateful day in 2006 involved a.o. Tucker, Menchaca and Babineau. Remember them and pray for them also. It's a given that their relatives and loved ones still suffer.
"Captain Jesse Melton lll served in the Marine Corps for 11 years. He died on Sept 9, 2008, while on active duty with the United States Marine Corps in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom Campaign). He was assigned to HQ Battery, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii at the time of his death."
Via 90 Miles from Tyranny, this photo of the tombstone of a Marine Lance Corporal who fell in 2010 in Afghanistan, being mourned by two girls, either family members or acquaintances ...
"... Friends and family described Eric L. Ward, a 19-year-old Marine from Redmond who died Sunday in Afghanistan, as a proud and generous man who kept everybody around him laughing.
Lance Cpl. Ward died in a “hostile incident” in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday. A machine-gunner, he was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.
“He was always the person to make you laugh no matter what happened,” said Trey Hoover, 19, a fellow Marine who was Ward’s roommate in Afghanistan. “No matter what happened, where we were at, even if we were sleeping in the field getting a torrential downpour rained on us, he’d always make it funny.”
Besides his humor, Lance Cpl. Ward was known for his athletic talent and unusual generosity, said his father, Steven Ward. Every year while he was a student at Snoqualmie Valley Public Schools, Eric Ward would buy extra sets of school supplies to give to those who were less fortunate.
A fourth-generation Marine, Lance Cpl. Ward had dreamed of joining the Corps from an early age, his father said.
“He was a natural leader,” said Steven Ward, 48. “He was proud to serve. He was proud for his family. He was strong.”
Eric Ward joined the Marines in July 2008. He deployed to Afghanistan in October and was promoted to the rank of lance corporal last month.
His awards include the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and NATO International Security Assistance Force Medal.
The exact cause of death has not been released. Ward’s battalion reportedly has been participating in an intense offensive to retake the city of Marjah, in the southern province of Helmand, from Taliban control.
About 15,000 American and NATO troops, including soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, are participating in the offensive, which has been described as the largest operation in the eight-year war.
The operation has resulted in the deaths of many American soldiers, Taliban fighters and Afghan civilians. At least seven Marines in Lance Cpl. Ward’s regiment alone have died since Feb. 1.
Lance Cpl. Ward’s body arrived at Dover Air Force Base late Tuesday, said his father, who was on the tarmac when the plane landed. Because he died in combat, Lance Cpl. Ward will be buried at Arlington National Ceremony.
The family is planning services in Western Washington to celebrate Eric Ward’s service, his father said...
"... of Somerville, Mass.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died Aug. 15 in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device and then received small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade fire. Also killed was 1st Lt. Donald C. Carwile."
I have a graph for you.
Let us thank Paul, and so many others, for bringing hope in a wretched part of the world through his sacrifice.
On March 6 1945, the US 3rd Armoured Division entered the ruins of Cologne. The German Army having been bled white in the costly battles in the Rhineland, not much resistance was encountered. However, when an M4 Sherman tank of F Coy., 32nd Armoured Regiment, tried to negotiate a pile of rubble in the Komoedienstrasse, near Cologne Cathedral, it was hit by a 75mm round from a Panther tank belonging to Pz. Abt. 2106 of Panzer Brigade 106 "Feldherrnhalle". Of the crew of 5, three men were killed. An M26 Pershing of E Coy. of the same regiment, advancing slowly in a parallel street, was alerted to the Panther's presence, sneaked up behind it, and destroyed it with a couple of rounds from its 90mm gun.
Coincidentally, some cameramen were on hand to film the entire episode.
At the 0:28 mark you can see the Sherman commander, 2nd Lt. Karl E. Kellner, climb out of his burning vehicle. His left leg is blown off behind the knee. Barely visible behind him you can make out another crew member tumbling off the stricken tank.
The Sherman crew consisted of:
Tank Commander Karl E. Kellner
Gunner John J. Gialluca
Asst. Gunner Curtis Speer
Driver Julian Patrick
Asst. Driver Oliver Griffin
"The second soldier seems to be 19 years old Corporal 'Gunner' John J Gialluca of the 3rd Armored Division 'Spearhead'. His son Doug found my site on the web and sent me the following mail where he describes the situation as he heard it from his father:
*The last tank battle in Cologne Germany on March 6 1945 happened as Corporal Gunner John J Gialluca approached the square of town between two buildings where suddenly by surprise a Panther Mark V hit their Sherman tank. John remembers the tank burning and they were trapped. The shrapnel went through his legs and he said he was pinned to his seat when a second blast under the turret forced him free from his position. There were no other survivors except Corporal John J Gialluca. There was another tank disabled next to his tank that tried to help the injured. They found John lying on the ground with his 45 caliber hand gun in his hand. Then John said as they were helping him he could hear the blast and gunfire from what is known now the battle of the last tank. The Sherman tank that Corporal John J Gialluca was in was facing the cannon of the 75mm high velocity Panther Mark V. The 76 mm is questionable as for penetrating the heavy armored Panther head to head. This was John's second tank hit in his journey from Normandy Beach and very fortunate to survive. Corporal Gunner John J Gialluca was sent to a hospital in England where he had a lengthy recovery and was able to walk again. After a long fight with kidney cancer John went to be with the Lord on July 5th 1998."
Two men survived: gunner John J. Gialluca and Assistant Driver Oliver Griffin. Of the other three, Driver Julian Patrick and assistant gunner Curtis Speer were killed instantly. Cdr. Kellner, who managed to clamber out of the cupola despite his mortal leg wound, died shortly thereafter.
The photo below is a still from the movie. Kellner has made it onto the engine deck. Clearly visible is the bloody stump that's left of his leg.
Medics were instantly at the spot, dragged him in a bomb crater and started treating him. Soon therafter however he died from his injuries.
These days, it takes only a couple of minutes to extract accurate info from the web on 2nd Lt Kellner. This is what showed up:
He was buried in Section 6 West, Lot 136, of Sheboygan's Calvary Cemetery, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.
Freedom isn't free.
Rest in peace, Lieutenant Kellner. Your sacrifice was not in vain. God bless.
My best wishes to all true Americans on this Memorial Day.
Americans have a lot to be proud of. Not the least of that is that their country's record with regards to military operations abroad is relatively spotless - if you forget the almost inevitable war crimes committed by a very small number of individuals. Certainly, no one can accuse the US of having used its armed forces throughout its history in an imperialistic way, a few small scale operations in the nineteenth century notwithstanding. Basically all European countries e.g., at one or several instances throughout their history, sent their armies to invade either neighbouring countries or countries further away possessing goods or territory which they thought would enhance their power. Millions and millions and millions of European soldiers died serving what was in essence a brutal and oppressive cause. But... not so AMERICAN soldiers.
Indeed, the truly overwhelming majority of Americans who fell in the wars their country waged, were part of noble enterprises aimed at alleviating the needs of suppressed peoples, or downright liberating them.
Yes, hundreds of thousands of American troops perished on foreign battlefields, far from their loved ones.
But hundreds of millions live in freedom and prosperity because of that gruseome sacrifice.
Without America's military commitment in the service of freedom, justice and humanity, this world would be a VERY different place. And a far nastier one.
Today, May 28th 2012, is the day to honor all those gentle heroes, and pray for them and their relatives.
Air Force Major Terry Dutcher, of Hill Air Force Base, Utah, visits the grave of her son, Army Corporal Michael Avery Pursel, who died serving in Iraq in 2007 at age 19, surrounded by flags placed by soldiers at each grave for the annual “Flags-In” in honor of Memorial Day, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Thursday, May 24, 2012. (AP)
I don't doubt for a second that the overwhelming majority of Americans respect the dead of their armed forces, who fell on battlefields from Bataan over Hawaii to Antietam and Gettysburg. From Bunker Hill and Yorktown to Nicaragua and Bastogne. From Belleau Wood and the Huertgen Forest to Fallujah and Helmand. From Grenada and Anzio to Khe Sanh, Hue and Inchon.
And yet over the past year my eye fell upon several disturbing articles. What to think of this e.g., via Fox News:
"...Memorial Day reaches out beyond our veterans, living and dead, to embrace all Americans–and to remind them that freedom is never free, in peacetime as well as war.
Today, unfortunately, nothing is sacred. That includes the graves of our war dead and veterans. Every day brings new stories about resting places vandalized or decaying with neglect. In one Boston cemetery 250 brass flag standards were stolen from soldiers’ graves to sell for scrap. A maintenance supervisor at a national cemetery outside Milwaukee was arrested for using the burial plots as his private dumping ground.
Meanwhile, the National Cemetery Association’s budget has been stuck at $250 million for more than a decade–that’s about half of what our government gave to Solyndra–even the numbers of World War Two and Korean War veterans passing on, has been soaring...."
"...The leaders of a congressional committee investigating the Dover Air Force Base mortuary said Thursday that they would broaden their probe to include all military burial practices over the past decade, including reports that partial remains of hundreds of war dead were incinerated and dumped in a Virginia landfill.
Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the top Republican and Democrat, respectively, on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said they found “appalling” revelations in The Washington Post on Thursday that the Air Force shipped incinerated remains from at least 274 troops to the King George County Landfill before ending the practice in 2008..."
Whoever was responsible for this, shouldhang. And I strain myself not to wish I would mean that litterally.
I would say that now is the time for prayer and thanking. God bless.
By far the best Memorial Day tribute I read was that of Judge Patrick Dugan on Fox News, yesterday:
"... Memorial Day is not about politics. Whatever your feelings about current or former wars, remember this: All military personnel take an oath. The fallen swore and gave their lives honoring a promise:
"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the uniform code of military justice. So help me God."
The soldiers who gave Uncle Sam a blank check with their lives offered to answer our nation's call to arms. The military does not decide to go to war; it just answers the call of our nation. And the numbers of those who have died answering that call continue to rise: 4,454 and counting in Iraq; 1,586 and counting in Afghanistan; 58,220 in Vietnam; 36,574 in Korea; 405,399 in World War II. Since 1775, in fact, more than 1.3 million military personnel (and counting) have given their lives for this nation.
It's a huge number, but, then, Memorial Day is not about the numbers. It's about the individual human being: the American, the man, the woman, the father, the brother, the spouse, the friend, the son, the uncle and the daughter who answered the call of our nation to deploy into violence, into war.
It's about people such as Upper Darby High School graduate Lt. Col. Mark Patrick Phelan, 47, from Pennsylvania, a father, uncle, husband and brother who went to Iraq with the 416th Civil Affairs Battalion (Norristown) to win the "hearts and minds" of Iraqis. His remains now lie in Arlington National Cemetery, with fellow heroes, such as Cpl. Michael Crescenz, of Philadelphia, a Vietnam veteran who received the Medal of Honor. Lt. Col. Phelan was an Army reservist killed by a "homicide bomber" who rammed his explosives-filled car into the Humvee in which Phelan was riding.
Memorial Day is about Americans like infantry paratrooper Robert Dembowski Jr., 20, a graduate of Pennsylvania's Council Rock High, who was killed in Baghdad in a small-arms attack. It's about Roger Haller, 49, a Maryland National Guard command sergeant-major, whose helicopter was shot down in Iraq and who now rests in Arlington. It's about Nicole Frye, 19, a Civil Affairs soldier from Wisconsin, who was killed in Iraq by an IED as she drove an unarmored Humvee that had a plastic tarp for a door.
Memorial Day is for Bradli Coleman, 19, of Ford City, Pa., who was killed by a mortar as he slept on his bunk in Mosul, Iraq, after working the night shift in Task Force Olympia headquarters. Memorial Day is about Marine Maj. John Spahr, 42, a former Philadelphia All-Catholic quarterback at Saint Joseph's Prep, whose F18 went down in Iraq. Memorial Day is about Marine John Basilone, killed in the Pacific during World War II. Memorial Day is to remember the sacrifice of Lee Hartel, killed in Korea. It is about Patrick Ward, 21, a helicopter machine-gunner from Fairmount who did not return from Vietnam.
Every day is Memorial Day for the fallen's families, friends and comrades-in-arms. Look into the eyes of Robert Dembowski Sr., or those of a Gold Star Mother, and you will see the immeasurable price that some pay for our freedoms.
Memorial Day is about the infinite void that each deceased hero leaves. It's about the families and friends of Phelan, Crescenz, Dembowski, Frye, Spahr, Haller, Coleman, Basilone, Hartel, Ward and countless others, about their everyday pain as they continue through life even as their loved ones become names on marble monuments.
As you enjoy your federal holiday, I urge you to include in your festivities a time to remember what Memorial Day truly means: a time to stop, put down your barbecue tongs and join the families and comrades-in-arms, and think, if even just for a short time, about the sacrifice signified by the numbers on the walls.
I urge you to take your children to a ceremony honoring those who have fallen. Take them to a Memorial Day parade. Put a flag on your lawn. Help a veterans' group. Better yet, help a "survivors' group." Attend one of the many services throughout the region honoring our war dead.
The Vietnam memorial honors the fallen. The Korean memorial also honors who fell. But, remember, these are not just numbers or names on a wall. They are your fellow citizens, who died in your name. Keep their memory alive."
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
