DOB/DOD: April 20, 1960 (Willimantic, CT) – October 14, 2004; 44 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married to Tammy L. Garceau (1962-)
CHILDREN: Two daughters, Audrey (1993-) and Emily (1995-). One son, Nicholas (1998-).
LOCAL ADDRESS: Hartford Road; Brooklyn
COMPANY: DynCorp
FAMILY: Born to Roger B. Miner Sr. (1908-1963) and Dorothe Tuthill Collins Miner (1919-1967). Eric was just 3 years old when his father died. He and his brother, Mark, were raised by a family friend and guardian, Lois B. Potter (1918-2015). One stepbrother, John Collins (-). Three stepsisters: Pamela Collins Barrea (1945-), Loretta Collins Zahansky (1946-2004), and Jaquelyn M. Collins (1948-). One sister, Patrice Miner (1956-1956).
CIRCUMSTANCES: Eric Miner was killed by a suicide bomber inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. Other DynCorp employees killed in the incident:
John Pinsonneault; North Branch, MN
Steve Osborne; Kennesaw, Georgia
Ferdinand Ibaboa; Mesa, Arizona
OTHER: From sister Jacque Collins, “My brother Eric was into cutting wood. One of his dreams was to have his own sawmill. He loved animals, especially his dogs. He always loved living in the country. He loved his family and his friends. He was always there to lend a helping hand. He lost both his parents when he was very young and was raised by a family friend and her husband. I think that’s why his family meant so much to him.”
He was a member of the Rhode Island National Guard at the time of his death. Assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group.
Graduated from Killingly High School in Danielson, Connecticut, Class of 1978. He did not have a senior picture. The photo below is from his junior year yearbook.
From The Hartford Courant on October 16, 2004
By Noreen Gillespie | Associated Press
BROOKLYN MOURNS CIVILIAN SLAIN IN IRAQ
BROOKLYN, Connecticut — Eric D. Miner spent more than a decade as a military man, serving his country as a Special Forces Green Beret with a Rhode Island National Guard unit. But when he left for Iraq last August, it wasn’t in uniform. He went to the turbulent region as a private citizen, working for State Department security contractor DynCorp. Miner, 44, and three others were killed Thursday when two bombs exploded in the tightly guarded area of Baghdad known as the Green Zone. He leaves behind a wife, Tammy, and 11-year-old Audrey, 9-year-old Emily, and 6-year-old Nicholas. “He had mentioned that there was an opportunity to make a great deal of money over there,” friend Andrew Carey told radio station WILI. “I think he liked the adventure that goes along with that sort of Life. He was an extremely capable individual, and we’re all very proud of him and what he stood for.” A stream of friends and neighbors showed up at Miner’s small country home Friday. The home had been decorated for Halloween with pumpkins on the stoop and a large wooden sign welcoming visitors. An American flag flew at half-staff on the well-kept lawn. Casualty officers from Rhode Island met with Miner’s widow. A woman who answered the decor said family members were too distraught to speak. Miner grew up in eastern Connecticut and graduated from Killingly High School. He was a cable technician with Southern New England Telephone, now SBC, for 20 years. His parents died when he was young, and a family friend, Lois Potter, raised then 4-year-old Eric and his 6-year-old brother. Eric Miner stayed in close contact and had sent an e-mail to Lois Potter earlier this week, her son, Judge Russell F. Potter, said. “They were like her own kids, Potter said. When Lois Potter’s husband died in the mid-1980s, Miner purchased their farm property in Brooklyn, and he has lived there ever since, Russell Potter said. “He loved the place,” Potter said. Miner was on leave from the Rhode Island National Guard, where he held the rank of Sergeant First Class with A Company, 2nd Battalion, 18th Special Forces Group. Military records show that he joined the National Guard in 1991. He was deployed to both Kosovo and, after the September 11 terrorist attacks, to Kuwait. He asked for a leave of absence in July to pursue the job with DynCorp, said Rhode Island National Guard Major General Reginald A. Centracchio. “No matter how you lose a soldier, it’s still not an easy thing, certainly, for any of us to be able to justify,” Centracchio said. Funeral arrangements were still being made Friday, but the Rhode Island National Guard said Miner would be buried in Connecticut with full military honors. Miner is the 16th person with Connecticut ties killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan since March 2002. DynCorp provides security and police training for the U.S. government and military in war zones Worldwide. It won a $50 million State Department contract in April 2003 to train Iraqi police and prison personnel. The firm is a division of Computer Sciences Corporation, based in El Segundo, California. “The management and staff of CSC and its DynCorp International business unit stand united in our sadness over the deaths and injuries of our employees,” CSC spokesman Mike Dickerson said in a statement. “We extend our heartfelt and deepest sympathies to the families of the victims.” The blasts were reportedly the work of suicide bombers. Iraq’s most feared terror group, led by Jordanian military Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the twin blasts according to a site known for Islamic content. A fourth DynCorp contractor is missing and presumed dead, and a fifth worker was wounded. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday the terrorists were targeting “not just Americans, but scores of innocent Iraqis. We condemn these acts, and they will not succeed.”
From SeacoastOnline.com on October 15, 2004
By Alexandra Zavis | Associated Press
FOUR AMERICANS AMONG 10 DEAD FOLLOWING SUICIDE ATTACK AT CAFE
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents struck deep inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, setting off bombs at a market and a popular café that killed at least 10 people – including four Americans – and wounded 20 others in the compound housing foreign embassies and Iraqi government offices. The bold, unprecedented attack, which witnesses and a senior Iraqi official said was carried out by suicide bombers, dramatized the militant’s ability to penetrate the heart of the U.S.-Iraqi leadership even as authorities step up military operations to suppress Sunni Muslim insurgents in other parts of the country. Iraq’s most feared terror group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the twin blasts and said they were suicide attacks, according to a statement posted on a website known for its Islamic content. Later Thursday, U.S. Marines launched air and ground attacks on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, after city representatives suspended peace talks with the Iraqi government over Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s demand to hand over al-Zarqawi. Residents described the bombardments as the most intensive shelling since U.S. forces began weeks of “precision strikes” aimed at al-Zarqawi’s network, though a senior military official in Washington said the latest fighting was not the major invasion that Allawi has threatened. The attack in the Green Zone was the first time bombers had gotten inside the 4-square-mile compound – surrounded by concrete walls, razor wire, sandbag bunkers, and guard posts – and was the deadliest attack within the area since the U.S. occupation began in May 2003. The U.S.-guarded enclave, home to about 10,000 Iraqis, government officials, foreign diplomats, and military personnel, spreads along the banks of the Tigris River in the heart of the capital. The area’s trees and other greenery present a sharp contrast to the rest of dusty and arid Baghdad. The zone is centered on Saddam Hussein’s mammoth Republican Palace, and there are dozens of smaller palatial buildings, houses, office buildings, and a hospital once used by high-ranking members of the old Baath Party regime. The bombings, which underscored that no part of Baghdad is truly safe, took place about 12:40 p.m. on the eve of the Islamic holy month, Ramadan. Last year, the start of Ramadan was marked by a major escalation of insurgent violence. Across the Tigris River, two U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday in eastern Baghdad – one when his patrol came under small arms fire, the other in a roadside bombing – the U.S. command said. Two more American soldiers were killed when their Humvee was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade and caught fire during a raid in Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital, the military said. Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem Dawoud said the Green Zone attacks appeared to be a “suicide operation” – as was claimed in the website statement. “This cowardly act will not go unpunished,” Dawoud said. “We will strike them wherever they are.” A waiter and restaurant patrons saw two men enter the Green Zone Cafe clutching large bags. One appeared nervous while the other seemed to be trying to reassure him, they said. The two men ordered tea and talked for about 20 minutes – a waiter thought they spoke with Jordanian accents. The more confident of the two then walked out and hailed a taxi, the witnesses said. Minutes later, a loud explosion rocked the compound. “It was then that the second bomber blew himself up,” said one Iraqi vendor, afraid to give his name. “I fell on the floor, then quickly gathered myself and ran for my life.” The blast left a gaping crater in the pavement where the canopied restaurant once stood. Splatters of blood and pieces of flesh were scattered among the twisted metal, shards of glass, and upended plastic chairs littering the scene. Thick, black smoke billowed from the compound. “People were screaming … stampeding, trying to get out, ” said Mohammed al-Obeidi, the owner of a nearby restaurant who was wounded by flying glass from the cafe blast. Six Iraqis were killed at the cafe, and several U.S. Embassy employees suffered minor injuries there, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington. Four American employees of DynCorp security company were killed, and two State Department employees were wounded in the blast in a vendor’s alley near the U.S. Embassy annex. The outdoor bazaar caters to Westerners, selling everything from mobile phone accessories to pornographic DVDs. The Green Zone is a regular target of insurgents. Mortar rounds are frequently fired at the compound, and there have also been a number of deadly car bombings at its gates. Last week, a bomb was found in front of the Green Zone Cafe, but it did not explode. Al-Obeidi, the restaurant owner, said security in the zone has weakened since Iraqi police took a greater role with the June handover of power. “Before, it was really safe. They (the Americans) passed it over to the Iraqis … the Iraqi Police. When they see someone they know, it’s just, “Go on in.” They don’t understand it’s for our safety,” al-Obeidi said. Following Thursday’s attack, the U.S. military said intelligence reports indicated insurgents were planning more strikes to “gain media attention.” Security measures in the capital and surrounding areas would be “significantly increased for an undetermined period,” a military statement said. They include more armed patrols, intensified security at Baghdad airport and elsewhere, and air patrols. U.S. Embassy personnel were instructed to remain inside the embassy complex until further notice, Boucher said. The U.S. Embassy also “strongly encouraged” Americans living or working in the Green Zone to limit their movements, travel in groups, and avoid restaurants.
Eric Miner is buried in New Mansfield Center Cemetery, 31 Cemetery Road, Mansfield Center, Connecticut; Section A, Row D, Lot 45.
