DOB/DOD: May 21, 1975 (Meriden, CT) – January 29, 2004; 28 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Crown Street; Meriden
ENLISTMENT: November 6, 1996
MILITARY OCCUPATION SPECIALTY: 21B; Combat Engineer
UNIT: A Company, 41st Engineer Battalion, 10th Mountain Division; Fort Drum, New York
FAMILY: Born to Edith “Edie” R. Gilman (1952-). No siblings. His Big Sister from the Big Brothers – Big Sisters program is Jean Moran Pontacoloni (1965-).
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Army Achievement Medal with device, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal with device, Army Service Ribbon, and the NATO ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) Medal – Kosovo.
CIRCUMSTANCES: Sergeant Gilman was killed in an accidental explosion of a weapons cache. Others killed in the same incident:
Army Sergeant First Class Curtis Mancini; Davie, Florida
Army Staff Sergeant Shawn M. Clemens; New York City
Army Staff Sergeant James D. Mowris; Aurora, Missouri
Army Specialist Robert Cook; Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
Army Specialist Adam Kinser; Rio Vista, California
Army Specialist Justin A. Scott; Bellevue, Kentucky
OTHER: In a phone conversation with Sgt Gilman’s mother, Edie, she shared the following: “I didn’t watch the news because I didn’t want to know what was happening. The power went out at work on the day I was first notified. After I returned home from work, the Casualty Assistance Officer rang the doorbell, and I refused to go down and open the door. Finally, after 20 minutes, when I did open the door, the news was that Ben was missing. A day later, I received the ‘we regret to inform you’ visit, which I expected. Ben was going to get back on February 5th, and we were going to go to Fort Drum to greet him and take him home. He died the week before that could happen. I have this title of Gold Star Mother. I wish I didn’t have that title.”
Graduated from Orville H. Platt High School in Meriden, Connecticut, Class of 2003. His mother graduated from the same school in 1971.
From The Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) on February 1, 2004
By Christopher Symington
CITY MAN IS PRESUMED DEAD IN AFGHANISTAN
An accidental explosion in Afghanistan on Thursday left seven soldiers dead and military officials fearing a Meriden man may also have been killed. The accident was the military’s worst single casualty toll to date in Afghanistan. Three other soldiers and an interpreter were also wounded after a cache of mortar rounds and rifle ammunition exploded at an arms dump. Officials said Sergeant Benjamin L. Gilman, 28, of Meriden, was one of the soldiers preparing to dispose of the arms when one or more of them detonated, beading investigators to at first fear the explosion was a trap. Gilman, who was assigned to A Company, 41st Engineer Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, was listed as “Duty Status: Whereabouts Unknown” for two days after the blast, through Saturday afternoon, according to Connecticut Army National Guard Director of Communications Major John Whitford. Saturday evening, however, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty said Gilman’s status had been changed to “Presumed Dead.” A Connecticut Army National Guard representative was assisting Gilman’s family Saturday, Whitford said. Gilman’s mother. Edith Gilman did not comment other than to say that her son has been in the Military for a number of years. As a 17-year-old senior at Platt High School, where he participated in clubs such as the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America and the school’s Panther Pantry culinary club, Gilman’s interest in the military was already evident. He was active in the Meriden-Wallingford Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program then and spoke about his desire to serve in the military during an interview with the Record-Journal. The only son of a single mother, he also wanted to be a pharmacist or a chef. A Company, 41st Battalion, based in Fort Drum, New York, is a light combat unit trained and equipped for rapid deployment and was likely supporting another nearby brigade, Whitford said. He did not know how many soldiers may have been working near the arms dump when the explosion occurred. Three soldiers from Fort Drum were among those killed. They are Army Staff Sergeant Shawn M. Clemens, 28, of Allegany, New York; Specialist Robert Cook, 24, of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; and Specialist Justin Scott, 22, of Bellevue, Kentucky. In all, some 107 U.S. soldiers have died – 37 of them in combat – during Operation Enduring Freedom, which began in Afghanistan in late 2001. “It’s tough. We all wear the same uniform regardless of the branch,” Whitford said. “Right now, we’re just working with the family. This is not something we like to do, but it’s a part of the job.”
From The Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) on February 4, 2004
By Evan Goodenow
CITY SOLDIER’S REMAINS ARE BACK ON U.S. SOIL; ARMY PROBE CONTINUES
MERIDEN — As Army investigators continued to probe their deaths, the remains of Army Sergeant Benjamin L. Gilman and seven of his colleagues arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday. Gilman, of Meriden, a combat engineer with the 41st Engineering Battalion of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, died Thursday in an explosion about 10 miles west of Ghazni, Afghanistan. A preliminary Army investigation has determined that a weapons cache that Gilman and his unit were preparing to detonate exploded, according to division spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty. While detonating explosives is never routine, it is done daily by the battalion. Since December, unit members have destroyed more than 80 bombs, 9,000 rockets, 700 mines, and 900 grenades, Hilferty said. Gilman and his unit were preparing to detonate mortar and rifle rounds, according to Hilferty, who said Gilman had provided “exemplary service” since arriving in Afghanistan in August. Gilman, 28, was a Platt High School student and active in volunteer efforts before enlisting in 1996. Despite the sometimes dangerous duties of the unit, Gilman made several attempts to join it before succeeding, his mother, Edie, said Monday. The soldiers’ remains were greeted by an honor guard as they were brought to a mortuary — standard procedure at the air base, which handles the bodies of most soldiers killed in action or accidentally, according to Air Force Lieutenant Colonel John Anderson, the spokesman at Dover.
From The Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) on April 14, 2004
By Hannah C. Glover
FALLEN SOLDIER’S MEMORY TO LIVE ON
MERIDEN — Those who loved him will never forget Sergeant Benjamin L. Gilman, but they want to make sure others in the city remember him, too. That’s why the city will establish a scholarship in the slain soldier’s name and possibly rename a Bronson Avenue park where he spent so much time playing basketball when he was younger, in his honor. Mayor Mark D. Benigni met with Gilman’s mother, Edith, and his Big Sister, Jean Moran, on Tuesday to talk about how best to honor him. The city has committed to contributing $1,000 to a scholarship fund, adding to the private donations Edie Gilman has received. Benigni said he hopes the city’s contribution continues long after he is out of office. “I like a scholarship because while the seniors at Platt this year know who he is, in five or 10 years, kids will ask, ‘Who’s Ben Gilman?’ and the answer will be, “well, Ben Gilman gave up his life for our freedom.” Gilman, a combat engineer with the 41st Engineer Battalion of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, died January 29 in an explosion outside of Ghazni, Afghanistan, a city about 90 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul. He was 28. The scholarship will be given to a senior at Platt High School, from which Gilman graduated in 1996 before enlisting in the Army. It’s his mother’s alma mater, too. Edie Gilman keeps a pin with a picture of her son in uniform attached to her purse. The pin reads “R.I.P. Benjamin Gilman.” She talked about her son’s love for sports, especially basketball. “If I ever couldn’t find him, I knew where to go,” she said. That was the small, run-down court in Bronson Park, off Cook Avenue. “He used to get so mad because there were no lights there, and there were hoops but no nets,” said Moran, who met Gilman when he was 11 years old through the United Way Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. “I’d rather just say he is my brother. I like it better that way,” said Moran, her eyes laden with tears. Benigni knows Bronson Park well. He ran recreation programs there when he worked at the YMCA, and living on Summer Street, he could see the courts from his second-floor apartment. Together, the three discussed naming a part of the park, or perhaps the entire park, after Gilman. At least, Benigni said, there could be a memorial rock or plaque in the park. “We’ll find a spot together,” he told the two women. They also talked about ways to keep the scholarship funded, perhaps through a memorial dinner. If food is involved, rice and beans must be part of the mix, Moran said. That was Gilman’s favorite dish. Dr. Stuart Calle, an emergency room doctor who lives in Coventry, came to the meeting as well. He brought a more private memorial — a small, black marble plaque etched with Gilman’s image. “I thought it would be my contribution,” said Calle, who, during a March 29 ceremony at the state Capitol, gave similar plaques to nine other Connecticut families who have lost loved ones in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Calle uses a computer program to manipulate photographs and then a laser to transfer the image from screen to stone. “It’s important to know you’re not alone,” he said. “It’s important to know Ben will not be forgotten in this town.”
From The Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) on July 10, 2004
By Evan Goodenow
GILMAN’S MOM DECLINES 1-ON-1
MERIDEN — An in-person presentation on the circumstances that led to the death of Meriden resident and Army Sergeant Benjamin L. Gilman would have been too painful for his mother. “I’m trying to find peace in this, and it’s not easy,” said Edith Gilman Friday as she sat in her Allen Court apartment surrounded by photos of her son. “I don’t want to be continuously reminded of that all the time. Enough details have been said.” Gilman, 29, and seven other soldiers were killed in an explosion on January 29 about 90 miles southwest of the Afghan capital of Kabul. The explosion was described by the Army as a routine detonation of a weapons cache — something Gilman’s unit, the 41st Engineer Battalion attached to the 10th Mountain Division, regularly does in Afghanistan — that accidentally went wrong. However, Dan and Jo Seitsinger of Oklahoma City, whose son Kyle Seitsinger, 29, was one of the soldiers killed, suspected a cover-up, prompting the Army’s decision to offer to make in-person presentations on their investigation of the deaths. On Thursday, three Army representatives arrived at the Seitsingers’ home. One worked with casualty assistance in Washington, D.C. The others, a major and a colonel, had recently returned from Afghanistan. They provided a thorough briefing, Dan Seitsinger said. “It was handled much more thoroughly and professionally than I expected. I was satisfied with the report — the information we got.” For 2 ½ hours, the visitors explained what happened, presenting evidence that included still photos captured from a video Kyle Seitsinger had been shooting. Dan Seitsinger said he could not reveal the information he’d been given since the families of the other seven soldiers still needed to be briefed. Since the October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, 92 U.S. soldiers have died there. In Iraq, 875 U.S. soldiers have died since the March 2003 invasion. Seitsinger said the briefing showed his son was on “a very routine assignment” at the time of the explosion. “It was a very small weapons cache,” he said. “There was nothing suspicious about the explosion. Those weapons had probably been undisturbed since they’d been placed there 20 years ago.” Edith Gilman said she’s also satisfied the death was an accident. She expects to receive a written report on the investigation next week but isn’t sure if she’ll read it. Gilman said the Army has been helpful in assisting her with paperwork connected to her son’s death and that she plans to write family members of the victims and prepare a scrapbook of articles and photos of her son for members of his unit in Afghanistan. Gilman said her son’s close friends have helped her cope with the pain, as well as the belief that her son didn’t die in vain. “He’s helped the country, and he’s helped us.”
Memorialized on the 10th Mountain Division Heroes Walk Memorial, Operation Enduring Freedom IV, 10th Mountain Division Drive north of South Riva Ridge Loop, Fort Drum, New York
Memorialized 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team Memorial, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), 10th Mountain Division Drive north of South Riva Ridge Loop, Fort Drum, New York
Memorialized with Gilman Memorial Park, 224 Cook Avenue, Meriden, Connecticut.
Sergeant Gilman is buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery, 817 Old Colony Road, Meriden, Connecticut; Section 27 South (against a fence line).
