USS Cole bombing survivor dies in Fla. home

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 29, 2:59 pm ET

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Johann Gokool lost his left foot when a bomb ripped a hole in the side of the USS Cole nearly a decade ago, but the injury was nothing compared with the mental torment that ravaged him almost daily.

He returned home to Florida suffering severe post-traumatic stress disorder and frequent panic attacks so violent he would launch into seizures and even fractured his own wrist several times as he flailed, sister Natala Gokool said Tuesday.
One of the brothers he lived with found him dead in their home last Wednesday, just a week after his 31st birthday, Natala Gokool said. His cause of death was unknown, though she said foul play was not suspected. The family believes the seizures just became too much for his body to handle.

Labels: Fallen Heroes, terrorism, US Navy, USS Cole

Sands hid fate of Gulf War pilot lost since '91

By PAULINE JELINEK and PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON – Navy pilot Michael "Scott" Speicher was shot down over the Iraq desert on the first night of the Gulf War in 1991 and it was there he apparently was buried by Bedouins, the sand hiding him from the world's mightiest military all these years.

In a sorrowful resolution to the nearly two-decade-old question about his fate, the Pentagon disclosed Sunday it had received new information last month from an Iraqi citizen that led Marines to recover bones and skeletal fragments — enough for a positive identification.

His family issued a statement Sunday saying, "The news that Captain Speicher has died on Iraqi soil after ejecting from his aircraft has been difficult for the family, but his actions in combat, and the search for him, will forever remain in their hearts and minds."

President Barack Obama called the news "a reminder of the selfless service that led him to make the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom."

"My thoughts and prayers are with his family, and I hope that the recovery of his remains will bring them a needed sense of closure," Obama said in a statement issued Sunday.

Labels: Fallen Heroes, POW/MIA, Scott Speicher

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The explosion of the Marine Corps building in Beirut, Lebanon, created a large cloud of smoke that was visible from miles away. Official USMC Photo


This day in 1983, at approximately 6:20 a.m., a yellow Mercedes delivery truck drove up to the Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport, and charged through the barbed-wire fence. It passed between sentry posts (the Marine sentries did not have loaded weapons), and smashed into the the lobby of Marine headquarters.

One of the sentries reported that the driver was smiling as he passed them.

The truck, which was loaded with the equivalent of about 12,000 pounds of TNT. The four-story building collapsed, crushing many inside to death. The blast produced a mushroom cloud.

Not quite half a minute later, the French Paratrooper barracks suffered the same fate. Another truck loaded with explosives detonated in the underground parking garage, levelling the headquarters.

Rescuers had to contend with sniper fire, but did manage to pull some survivors to safety in the days that followed.

241 American servicemembers were killed; 18 were Navy, 3 Army, and the rest were U.S. Marines. 60 were injured. It was the single deadliest day for the U.S. Marines since Iwo Jima.

The French lost 58 paratroopers; 15 were injured.

Three Lebanese were also killed - two at the Marine barracks, and one at the French barracks.

In response, President Ronald Reagan pledged to keep a military force in the country, despite the "despicable act." Vice President George Bush toured the site three days later, stating that the U.S. would not be cowed by terrorists.

The French retaliated with attacks on Iranian Revolutionary Guard positions in the Bekka Valley; the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was believed to be assisting in training Hezbollah fighters.

Other than limited shelling, the U.S. offered no significant military response to the attacks. A planned strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was aborted due to fears of damaging relations with Lebanon's Arab neighbors.

The Marines were moved to an offshore location. In February, 1984, the International Peacekeeping Force withdrew from Lebanon.

In the absence of the lack of strong U.S. military response, and with the withdrawal of the peacekeepers, terrorists celebrated what they saw as a victory. Terrorist attacks against Westerners, and particularly Americans, increased substantially.

The event is widely viewed as the opening salvo of the War on Terror.


For more on the Marine Barracks Bombing:
The Beirut Memorial Online

U.S. Marine Corps Website - 25 Years Later

How it Happened (Military Times)

Ceremony on Sunday marks 25th anniversary of Beirut barracks bombing

"Johnny, there ain't no BLT building."



There are 273 names engraved on the walls of the Memorial. In addition to the inscribed names of those who died in Beirut and those who have died since of injuries from that blast, there are the names of the three Marine pilots from the area who were killed in Grenada. Photo by Lance Cpl. Joseph D. Day

Labels: Beirut, Fallen Heroes, terrorism, USMC

U.S. Soldier Kills Commanding Officer Before Turning Gun on Himself

Tuesday, September 09, 2008
AP

KILLEEN, Texas — A Fort Hood soldier shot to death his lieutenant during a confrontation at his off-base apartment Monday, then killed himself, police said.

The lieutenant and a staff sergeant went to the Army specialist's apartment, and a confrontation ensued. Killeen police officers responded to a call of a man with a gun, and they saw the specialist hit and then shoot the lieutenant as they arrived at the scene, Killeen police spokesman Carroll Smith said.

The officers returned fire, but the specialist shot himself in the head, Smith said. Police are still investigating what started the confrontation, she said.

Labels: Fallen Heroes, Fort Hood, heroes, US Army

Bodies of 2 U.S. Soldiers Missing for Over a Year are Found in Iraq

DETROIT — The bodies of two U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year have been found, their families said Thursday night. The military would not immediately confirm the report.

The father of Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, of Lawrence, Mass., said the remains of his son and another soldier, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, of Waterford, Mich., had been identified in Iraq. Jimenez, 25, and Fouty, 19, were kidnapped along with a third member of the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division during an ambush in May 2007. The body of the third seized soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, Calif., was found in the Euphrates River a year later.

Labels: Fallen Heroes, Iraq, POW/MIA, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, Pvt. Joseph Azack Jr., Sgt. Alex R. Jiminez, US Army

Labels: Fallen Heroes, FOB Iskan, Iraq, photos, US Army

Saturday, May 31, 2008

By DAN NEPHIN, Associated Press Writer

SHIPPENVILLE, Pa. — Growing up in a small rural town, Ross McGinnis was more apt to get in trouble than on the honor roll. So he enlisted in the Army, and in just under a year found his soul mate, a brotherhood, and even himself.

"I just cannot wait for the day when I can connect all 3 lives into one," McGinnis wrote on his MySpace page. "But that day will not be for a long time."

The 19-year-old private first class never got that chance.

He was in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee on Dec. 4, 2006, when a grenade sailed past him and into the vehicle where four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning, then jumped back-first onto the grenade, which blew up and killed him.

On Monday, he will be posthumously presented the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor.

"Ross was a hero, I mean, he was honestly the type of soldier that was trustworthy, that was reliable, that was dependable before combat. He loved doing what he was doing," said Ian Newland, one of the soldiers McGinnis saved.

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(click for full-sized version)

Labels: Fallen Heroes, Ignacio C, Memorial Day, tributes

Visitors pay tribute to the wall’s 58,260 etched names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which bear testament to the ultimate sacrifice made by U.S. troops.Defense Dept. photo by Sebastian J. Sciotti, Jr.


By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2008 – The names of four U.S. servicemembers were etched into the glossy black walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this week alongside more than 58,000 of their fallen comrades.

Finishing the addition today was the name of Raymond C. Mason, a Marine lance corporal who died a year ago as a result of ailing health stemming from a bullet wound that paralyzed him in February 1968 during the Tet Offensive.

In a ceremony at the wall here, Mason’s widow, Priscilla Mason, watched as an engraver inched a sandblaster over the Marine’s stenciled name with surgeonlike precision.

Priscilla got on bended knee, held a sheet of paper up to the bright, new inscription, and rubbed a crayon in diagonal strokes until “RAYMOND C MASON” was embossed against the white paper. She said she plans to have the outline tattooed onto her skin, and she has promised to make dozens of rubbings for friends back home in Riverside, R.I., when she returns here on Memorial Day.

“This is wonderful. He’s finally home,” she said when asked how she felt upon seeing the finished product on Panel 41E, Line 64 of the memorial.

The names of Richard M. Goosens, a Marine lance corporal, and Dennis O. Hargrove and Darrell J. Naylor, both Army specialists fourth class, were inscribed here yesterday. The Defense Department determined that their deaths, which occurred years after the end of U.S. operations in Vietnam, resulted from wounds suffered in a combat zone there.

The wall’s 58,260 etched names bear testament to the ultimate sacrifice paid by those U.S. troops, said R. James Nicholson, former secretary of Veterans Affairs.

“It’s also a tangible expression of the gratitude of the American people for those who served and died there,” he said in an interview today. “The hope is that more and more Americans will learn and grow to appreciate the sacrifice and the price that was paid to perpetuate our freedom.”

Designed by architect Maya Lin and built in 1982, the memorial consists of two black walls sunken into the ground, with a rolling mound of earth behind it sloping toward a heavily trafficked street.

“It was Maya’s vision for the memorial that it appear as a rift in the earth,” said J.C. Cummings, architect of record for the memorial. “At the same time, the wall serves a practical purpose of separating the visitor from the noise and the traffic of Constitution Avenue and the noise of the city.”

As a result, the architecture creates a quiet and contemplative atmosphere, he said, a design that allows visitors to have a respectful experience.

Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, said adding the names this week completes the healing process for surviving friends and family members. The additions also reflect America’s solidarity with its servicemembers of past and present, he said.

“When you join the service, you can feel comfortable that the service is going to stand behind you,” Scruggs said in an interview today. “Especially the people who are serving today in Iraq and Afghanistan in combat, they need to know that we’re behind them and we appreciate what they’re doing.”


More Photos


Related Sites:
Vietnam Veterans Memorial

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Calif., native 1st Lt. Casey Zimmerman of Company C, 3rdBattalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, hands out footballs at a school in Mullah Fayad March 27. All the items were donated by the family and community of Sgt. Nathan Barnes, who served in the area and was killed in Rushdi Mullah July 17. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Tony M. Lindback, 3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div.

Labels: 3-187 Infantry, children, Fallen Heroes, Good News, Iraq, Mullah Fayad, Rushdi Mullah, Sgt. Nathan Barnes

Labels: Fallen Heroes, Medal of Honor, Michael A. Mansoor, SEALs

Graphic by Doug Kidd

Labels: Fallen Heroes, Keith Matthew Maupin, POW/MIA, Scott Speicher