• Sgt. Gene Arden Vance Jr., 38, of Morgantown, W.Va.,
(Courtesy of WBOY)
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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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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|
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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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.
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