• Sgt. Gene Arden Vance Jr., 38, of Morgantown, W.Va.,

(Courtesy of WBOY)

Vance, a U.S. Special Forces soldier, was killed on Sunday May 19th when his unit came under heavy fire by suspected al Qaeda or Taliban fighters in a mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan. Vance was a 10-year veteran of the West Virginia National Guard serving with the 19th Special Forces Unit. He is survived by his wife Lisa and a daughter.

• Staff Sgt. Brian Craig, 27, of Texas

(AP Photo)

Craig was one of four soldiers killed April 15 in an explosion in Afghanistan. Craig and the other victims were killed when old Chinese-made rockets they were attempting to dismantle exploded. Craig was a member of the 710th Explosive Ordnance Detachment based in San Diego.

• Staff Sgt. Justin Galewski, 28, of Kansas
Galewski was killed in Afghanistan April 15 when rockets he was attempting to dismantle exploded. He was a member of the 710th Explosive Ordnance Detachment based in San Diego.

• Sgt. Jamie Maugans, 27, of Kansas

(AP Photo)

Maugans was killed April 15 in Afghanistan when rockets he was attempting to dismantle exploded. He was a member of the 710th Explosive Ordnance Detachment based in San Diego.

• Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Romero, 30, of Colorado

(AP Photo)

Romero, of the Colorado Army National Guard, was killed April 15 in Afghanistan when rockets he was attempting to dismantle exploded. He was a member of the 19th Special Forces Group based in Pueblo, Colo. He is survived by his wife and parents.

• Chief Petty Officer Matthew J. Bourgeois, 35, of Talahassee, Fla.

(AP Photo)

Bourgeois, a Navy SEAL, was killed after stepping on and setting off a land mine March 28 during a training mission near the U.S. base at Kandahar airport in Afghanistan, officials said. Another serviceman suffered a non-life-threatening wound.

• Sgt. Bradley S. Crose, 27, of Orange Park, Fla.

(AP Photo)

Crose, a member of the 1st Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., was one of six U.S. troops killed March 4 after their helicopter came under intense fire near the Afghan town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul. Crose was a tae kwon do master who competed on a national level.

• Sgt. Philip J. Svitak, 31, of Joplin, Mo.

(AP Photo)

Svitak, a flight engineer assigned to 2nd Battalion of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment in Fort Campbell, Ky., was one of six U.S. troops killed March 4 after their helicopter came under intense fire near the Afghan town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul. His mother recalled him saying, "If they send me over there and anything happens to me, I'm proud to die for my country." Svitak left behind a wife and two sons, ages 2 and 4.

• Spc. Marc A. Anderson, 30, of Brandon, Fla.

(AP Photo)

Anderson, a member of the 1st Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., was one of six U.S. troops killed March 4 after their helicopter came under intense fire near the Afghan town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul. Anderson left behind a wife and three sons.

• Pfc. Matthew A. Commons, 20, of Boulder City, Nev.

(AP Photo)

Commons, a member of the 1st Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., was one of six U.S. troops killed March 4 after their helicopter came under intense fire near the Afghan town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul. His father and grandfather were U.S. Marines.

• Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, 36, of Waco, Texas.

(AP Photo)

Chapman was one of six U.S. troops killed March 4 after their helicopter came under intense fire near the Afghan town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul. Chapman, who received two Air Force commendation medals, left behind a wife and two daughters.

• Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham, 26, of Camarillo, Calif.

(AP Photo)

Cunningham, a pararescueman and combat medic with the 38th Rescue Squadron, stationed at Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Ga., was one of six U.S. troops killed March 4 after their helicopter came under intense fire near the Afghan town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul. He left behind a wife and two daughters, ages 2 and 4.

• Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. Roberts, 32, of Woodland, Calif.

(AP Photo)

Roberts was killed March 4 after falling from his helicopter during fighting near the Afghan town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul. One of 12 children, he also left behind a wife and an 18-month-old son.

• Chief Warrant Officer Stanley L. Harriman, 34, of Wade, N.C.

(AP Photo)

Harriman was killed March 2 in a ground attack shortly after American forces, joined by Afghan and other allied troops, began an offensive against al Qaeda fighters near the town of Gardez. The father of two children, Harriman was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C.

• One of two crew members aboard a U.S. Navy F-14 fighter jet was killed March 2 when the jet crashed in the Mediterranean Sea as it took off from the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy. The soldier's name was not immediately released.

• Staff Sgt. Walter F. Cohee III, 26, of Wicomico, Md.

(AP Photo)

Cohee joined the Marine Corps Aug. 3, 1993, and was a communications navigations systems technician. Cohee died Jan. 20 aboard a CH-53E helicopter that crashed south of Kabul, Afghanistan.

• Sgt. Dwight J. Morgan, 24, of Mendocino, Calif.

(AP Photo)

Morgan joined the Marine Corps August 15, 1998 and was a helicopter mechanic. Morgan died Jan. 20 aboard a CH-53E helicopter that crashed south of Kabul, Afghanistan.

• Capt. Matthew W. Bancroft, 29, of Shasta, Calif.

(AP Photo)

The command pilot of the KC-130 plane that crashed in Pakistan on Jan. 9, Bancroft had been a Marine since 1994. His parents said he was seven years old when he decided he wanted to be a pilot.

• Capt. Daniel G. McCollum, 29, of Richland, S.C.

(AP Photo)

McCollum joined the Marines in 1993 and was the co-pilot of the KC-130 that crashed on Jan. 9.

• Gunnery Sgt. Stephen L. Bryson, 35, of Montgomery, Ala.

(ABCNEWS.com)

Bryson had just called his mother on Jan. 8, his birthday, to tell his mother he was thinking about her — one day before he was killed along with six other Marines when their KC-130 crashed. He joined the Marines straight out of high school in 1983.

• Staff Sgt. Scott N. Germosen, 37, of Queens, N.Y.

(ABCNEWS.com)

A 19-year-veteran of the Marines, Germosen was the loadmaster on the KC-130 that crashed Jan. 9 in Pakistan.

• Sgt. Nathan P. Hayes, 21, of Lincoln, Wash.

(Reuters)

In his hometown of Wilbur, Wash., Hayes was remembered as a football player who worked harder than many of the others on his high school team, even if he did not have as much talent as some athletes. He joined the Marines in 1999 and was the flight mechanic on the KC-130 that crashed Jan. 9 in Pakistan.

• Lance Cpl. Bryan P. Bertrand, 23, of Coos Bay, Ore.

(AP Photo)

Bertrand could have been home a month ago, but volunteered for another tour of duty as flight navigator. He recently wrote his parents that he had saved enough money to buy an electric guitar. He was among the seven who died on the KC-130 that crashed on Jan. 9 in Pakistan.

• Sgt. Jeannette L. Winters, 25, of Du Page, Ill.

(ABCNEWS.com)

A radio operator who joined the Marines in 1997, she was the first U.S. servicewoman to die since the U.S.-led Afghan bombing began in early October. She was on the KC-130 that crashed on Jan. 9. Her high school track coach remembered her as someone who gave everything she had, even if she was in physical pain, for her team.

• Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, 31, of San Antonio, Texas

(AP Photo)

Chapman was killed Jan. 4 by hostile, small arms fire in eastern Afghanistan, near the city of Khost. Chapman, a special forces soldier who has spent more than 12 years in the military, was the first U.S. combatant killed by enemy fire.

• Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory, 32, of Cheshire, Mass.

(AP Photo)

One of three special forces soldiers killed Dec. 5 when a U.S. bomb missed its Taliban target north of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. He was a member of the Army's 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky. His brother described him as a practical joker who had always wanted to join the Army.

• Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, 28, of Fraizer Park, Calif.

(AP Photo)

Prosser died with Petithory and a third soldier on Dec. 5 when a U.S. bomb missed its Taliban target north of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. They were all members of the Army's 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky.

• Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39, of Watauga, Tenn.

(AP Photo)

Davis was killed with Prosser and Petithory on Dec. 5 when a U.S. bomb missed its Taliban target north of Kandahar in Afghanistan. He was a Green Beret and former high school athlete who leaves behind a wife and three children in Clarksville, Ky.

• Navy Fireman Apprentice Michael J. Jakes Jr., 20, of New York City
Jakes died Dec. 4 of head injuries sustained in a fall from his bunk on the carrier USS Kitty Hawk in the Arabian Sea.

• Pvt. Giovanny Maria, 19, of Camden, N.J.
Maria, a 10th Mountain Division soldier, died on Nov. 29 in Uzbekistan from a gunshot wound unrelated to enemy action, according to U.S. officials. The death is currently under investigation.

• CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann, 32, of Winfield, Ala.

(Reuters)

Spann, a former Marine from a small town of 4,500, was questioning Taliban prisoners in a compound near the Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif when they erupted in riot. He was killed on Nov. 25, on the first day of the three-day riot, making him the first American to be killed in combat in Afghanistan. U.S. officials say he died of a gunshot wound and was not tortured.

• Petty Officer 1st Class Vincent Parker of Preston, Miss.
Parker, 38, was lost at sea Nov. 18 when the suspicious vessel his security team had boarded sank. Parker joined the Navy after graduating from high school, and was supposed to be on his last tour of duty before his retirement from the military. He had been serving aboard the USS Peterson.

• Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Johnson of Rochester, N.Y.
Johnson drowned Nov. 18 when a suspicious vessel his security team boarded in the Persian Gulf sank. The 21-year-old had been serving aboard the USS Peterson.

• Machinist's Mate Fireman Apprentice Bryant L. Davis, 20, of Chicago
Fell overboard into the Arabian Sea from the USS Kitty Hawk on Nov. 7, and declared dead by the Defense Department on Nov. 10.

• Pvt. 1st Class Kristofor T. Stonesifer, 28, of Missoula, Mont.

(AP Photo)

Stonesifer grew up in Pennsylvania and went on to attend the ROTC program at the University of Montana. An instructor there recalls that Stonesifer left the program early with a desire to become one of the best soldiers in the U.S. Army. He died Oct. 19 when his Black Hawk helicopter crashed upon attempting to land in Pakistan.
Kris' Memorial Page

  • Spc. Jonn J. Edmunds, 20, of Cheyenne, Wyo.

(AP Photo)

Edmunds, who died Oct. 19 with Stonesifer in the helicopter accident in Pakistan, was planning to make a career out of the military, according to friends and family. "He was just a happy-go-lucky guy," said John Steichen, the father of a close friend of Edmunds. Steichen told The Associated Press that Edmunds wanted to be a Ranger and "wanted to be where the action was."

• Air Force Master Sgt. Evander Andrews, 36, of Solon, Maine
He died Oct. 10 in a forklift accident while he was helping construct an airstrip in Qatar. Friends and colleagues described Andrews as an ace mechanic and cook. His widow, Judy Andrews, said her husband was devoted to his family and the Air Force.