STAFF SERGEANT RICHARD “RICK” SELDEN EATON JR.; ARMY RESERVE

DOB/DOD: February 9, 1966 (New Haven, CT) – August 12, 2003; 37 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Paddock Lane, Guilford
ENLISTMENT: 1985; 13 years active and 5 years Reserves
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 97B; Counterintelligence Agent
UNIT: USAR [U.S. Army Reserves] Units: B Company, 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion; Fort Meade, Maryland (7/1998-8/2003) and HHC, 126 USAR, East Windsor, CT (1/1991-12/1992)
Active Duty Units: HHC, 3rd MI BN, Seoul, South Korea 1/1986-4/1986); 209th MI BN, Camp Humphries and Camp Red Cloud, South Korea (4/86-3/87); Fort George Meade and Fort Huachuca (1997-1988); Joint Task Force Bravo, Honduras, and Panama (1989); Fort Hood, Texas (1990); C/102d MI BN, 2ID, Camps Hovey, Howze and Casey, South Korea (1/1992-1996); HHD, 501st MI BN, Yongsan, South Korea (4/1996-7/1997); HHC/524th MI BN S-2 CI section, South Korea, 8/1997-1998).

FAMILY: Born to Richard S. (1943-2005) and Sharon Noble Eaton (1944-). No siblings.

DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal with three devices, Army Achievement Medal with two devices, Army Good Conduct Medal with 3 devices, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal with device, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Expeditionary), Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Korean Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with ‘M’ device, Army NCO Professional Development Ribbon with ‘2’ device, Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Ribbon with ‘5’ device, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Army Superior Unit Award, Intel Badge, Rifle Badge, Pistol Badge, Grenade Badge, and Intel Badge. Posthumous awards: Iraq Campaign Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for Operation Just Cause in Panama, Connecticut Veterans Wartime Service Medal, and the Thomas Knowlton Award (Military Intelligence Corps Association). Memorial dedication and renaming of the John S. Mosby Army Reserve Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on April 23, 2024, to the Staff Sergeant Richard S. Eaton Army Reserve Center, home of the 99th Readiness Reserve Division’s MIRC (Military Intelligence Readiness Command).

CIRCUMSTANCES: Staff Sergeant Eaton died in his sleep on August 12, 2003, in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, from what was believed to be fluid in his lungs, possibly connected to heat and dehydration. Termed a “mystery death” in a 2003 news article, his August 18, 2003, DD Form 1300 [Report of Casualty] stated his cause of death was from “Illness: result of stroke.” His body arrived at the Dover AFB Mortuary with no blood available for an autopsy, and another deceased soldier’s records accompanied his body. The Dover autopsy report stated his death was caused by an “accident: heat-related.” His parents had difficulty accepting the autopsy’s conclusion as Rick was in good health, acclimated to the high heat in Iraq, and had received seven hours of medical treatment and IV bags after he collapsed at the Ar Ramadi gate while meeting with an informant. After treatment, he was sent to a barracks without the medical protocol of 24-hour observation and died. The prior day, he had been in a protracted firefight in Al Hit, Iraq. On May 23, 2007, Rick’s mother (Sharon Noble Eaton) met with President George W. Bush at Groton Airport after his address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. President Bush ordered extraordinary autopsy tests to be performed. One of those tests showed his urine myoglobin was <2670 mcg/L, indicating on a scale of 1 to 10 that it was 9.5 probable that exertional rhabdomyolysis was underway. Captain Craig Mallek, Chief Armed Forces Examiner System, and Colonel Paul Cordts visited Mrs. Eaton on August 17, 2007. Dr. Mallek believed that Rick had undetected rhabdomyolysis but could not state this on the addendum to Rick’s autopsy report. The standard for autopsy confirmation requires a decedent’s blood sample. He did, however, add to a list of accomplishments during his command of the Dover AFB Mortuary the following: (1) blood sample preservation in hot climates and (2) autopsies in the theatre of war.

OTHER: In Iraq, Rick served as a 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion HUMINT [Human Intelligence] team leader assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry’s S-2 section in Al Anbar province. He had been accepted by a South Korean Reserve Unit but received the 323rd deployment order while working as a contractor in a security position at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. He chose to deploy with the 323rd from South Korea and, in his words, was “only two days late” in arriving at Fort Dix, New Jersey, after receiving the forwarded order via his Alexandria, Virginia landlady and his parents a week or so before.

Author of three army counterintelligence manuals: Tactical HUMINT, HUMINT Team Leader, and HUMINT Team Member. While serving in the Army Reserves, he worked as a Washington, DC area contractor for Sytex, Inc. in creating the CHATS computer system first used in 2003 in Iraq; BAE Systems as a researcher in G-2 for a major revision of Army counterintelligence policy and procedures; INSCOM [U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command]; Premier Technologies, Inc. providing the U.S. Air Force security at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea.

Rick was a co-founder/moderator with James R. Lint, an Army counterintelligence special agent of the ACID-G (Army Counterintelligence Discussion Group) on the Internet. It was a great success that brought CI soldiers from around the world to one forum.  The ACID-G has now evolved into the Army Counterintelligence Special Agent Association (ACISAA).

Photo credit: Dolores J. Conte, a neighbor of mother, Sharon Eaton.

From TheFallen.MilitaryTimes.com

GUILFORD, Connecticut — A Connecticut soldier who died in Iraq this week is being remembered as a natural leader who knew at an early age that he wanted a career in the military. Army Staff Sergeant Richard S. Eaton Jr., 37, a counterintelligence officer, died in his sleep on August 12, his father, Richard S. Eaton, said the following day. “He loved the military. He loved this country, and this was his life and, in many respects, his identity,” the elder Eaton said. The family has few details about the death, he said, and they do not know whether he died from a strain of pneumonia that has killed other servicemen. Major Bill Adams, the region’s casualty assistance officer, said the cause of death remains under investigation but is thought to be a pulmonary edema. His death came nearly two years after a hijacked airplane crashed into his office at the Pentagon in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He was not working at the Pentagon at the time because his office was being renovated, his father said. The elder Eaton, a spokesman for the University of New Haven, said his son was working for the Department of Defense as a civilian at the time of the terrorist attacks. Eaton was in the Army Reserves and deployed to Iraq in March with the Fort Meade, Maryland-based 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion, said his mother, Sharon Noble Eaton. Eaton, who went by the nickname “Rick,” was not married and had no siblings. “Thirty-seven years with Rick is the glass half-full,” his mother said. “He was one hell of an interesting kid. It was like having 10 kids.” Eaton grew up listening to stories about family members who served in the armed forces. A portrait of Civil War General Amos Eaton, with a stern face and bushy beard, hangs over the family fireplace along with his Civil War sword. Another ancestor was William Eaton, who helped to reinstate the deposed leader of Tripoli and rescue American captives in the early 1800s. The story of William Eaton is being made into a movie called “Tripoli” starring Russell Crowe. The elder Eaton said he had looked forward to seeing it with his son. “I was thinking of writing to the movie people and asking if they would invite my son to the premiere since he spent his life admiring his ancestor,” the elder Eaton said. Both of Eaton’s grandfathers were veterans who loved to tell the boy stories of their service. One was in the Cavalry in World War I; the other was a pilot in World War II. From a young age, Eaton was a leader among his peers, his parents recalled. A preschool teacher once wrote that the boy was very bright but was inclined to be bossy with his classmates. At age 6, when the family hired an artist to cut a paper silhouette of the boy, he insisted on wearing a World War II field cap. Eaton’s teenage friends called him “GI Joe,” his father said. As a high school student, Eaton had his heart set on joining the Army, but he took a car trip to more than a dozen college campuses to please his parents and talked about majoring in botany or engineering. After the trip, his father told him he had to make his own decision. The young man went to the local recruiting office and brought a recruiter home to meet his parents. “He said, ‘He’s old enough to enlist himself at 18, but he really wants your approval,”’ the elder Eaton said. “Then he explained that they could give him the best work that the military had to offer.” The younger Eaton was offered a place at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, but declined because he believed “real soldiering” was done in the field, his father said. He spent 10 years in South Korea and had appointments in Honduras, Panama, and El Salvador. Trained to be secretive about the details of his work, the younger Eaton was not someone who talked about his accomplishments, his father said. He never wore his uniform at home and never displayed his awards, the elder Eaton said. “The person we know and the military person are, in a way, two different people because the requirements of the job were such that people didn’t know what he did,” he said. Eaton’s mother said he was a history buff who loved to read and played soccer. He coached a children’s soccer team while stationed in Honduras, the family said. Eaton “epitomized the American tradition of the citizen-soldier,” Governor John G. Rowland said in a written statement. Rowland ordered all state flags lowered to half-staff through sundown on the day of Eaton’s interment. Funeral arrangements have not been determined. Guilford First Selectman Carl A. Balestracci, a retired teacher, said he taught American history to the younger Eaton. The first selectman said Guilford, on the Connecticut coast near New Haven, is “standing by as a community.” We will do what the family would like us to do,” Balestracci said. “The VFW and the American Legion are standing by.” State Sen. William Aniskovich, R-Branford, has known the Eaton family for many years. The elder Eaton held the Senate seat between 1984 and 1986. “He was a young man who was dedicated to his country,” Aniskovich said. “He was always gung-ho about his participation in the Army and very serious and committed to what he was doing.”

From TheFallen.MilitaryTimes.com

Guilford soldier who died in Iraq laid to rest

GUILFORD, Connecticut — More than 300 people gathered at the First Congressional Church in Army Staff Sergeant Richard S. Eaton Jr.’s hometown on August 23 to remember the career soldier who died in Iraq. Eaton, 37, died in his sleep of an illness believed to be a pulmonary embolism. The counterintelligence officer had been deployed to the Middle East since March. Eaton, who came from a long line of military men, was awarded the Bronze Star for valor in combat. It was presented to Eaton’s parents, Richard S. Eaton and Sharon Noble Eaton, on Saturday at Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven. Eaton was in the Army Reserves and deployed to Iraq with the Fort Meade, Maryland-based 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion. Earlier in his career, he served in Honduras, South Korea, Panama, and El Salvador. His godparents, Terry and Joan Ferguson, of Bloomington, Ind., said it was no surprise to family and friends that Eaton chose a military career. “He was an ambitious, caring person,” Terry Ferguson said. “We’re really grateful; America is really grateful for his devotion.” Eaton was a contractor for the Department of Defense at the time of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. His usual office in the Pentagon was destroyed in the attacks; it was being remodeled at the time, and Eaton was working in an office outside the Pentagon. Major Kevin Cavanaugh, a chaplain with the Connecticut National Guard, praised Eaton’s patriotism and service. “His soldiering was an expression of his citizenship,” he said. “He believed in his country, and he believed in freedom.” About 400 people attended Eaton’s funeral, including state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, State Representative Richard Roy of Milford, and Lawrence DeNardis, president of the University of New Haven, where the elder Eaton is a spokesman.

From FallenHeroesMemorial.com

“I’ve known Rick since sometime in the 90s – I don’t know when he joined our unit – but I know he came to be a regular voice in my ear and a regular messenger of sanity and clarity in my email in 1999. We head out to Iraq again soon. I found this website as I’m looking for a good address or website link to our unit and am writing an email to my many friends to invite them to the big Mobilization Ceremony – complete with elected officials, big shots, media, children’s activities, and lunch. Rick would have hated that! And I can almost hear him mocking the planning and asking if there will be clowns for the circus! And I am laughing out loud, thinking of his sense of humor! He would have hated this because we serve in silence. If we are serving well, everything is quiet, and you won’t even know that we’ve been here. I’ve spent the last five years in silence and forcing myself not to remember all that has happened, but Rick comes to mind, and into my dreams sometimes, and he has been on my mind as we’ve prepared during these last few months, and the memories bubble up to the surface. As I pack my final bits here and dig through books, manuals, CDs, DVDs, and other resources to take along to keep me smart and out of jail, it will be Rick’s voice of reason, Rick’s questions, Rick’s throwing of the BS flag that will help to keep me on track. I like to think that I’ve learned from him and that I will be able to be that candid voice and maybe pass on that candor to some of these younger Soldiers who never knew him. I hope that our service now would make him proud. He is still missed.” — Warrant Officer 1 Montague

“Mr. and Mrs. Eaton, I had the pleasure of serving with Rick as a fellow intelligence soldier in Iraq. I returned to the States before his passing, so I will always remember him as a great person and a selfless soldier who always gave his all for our unit, the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He actively sought information from local Iraqis that would give us early warning of enemy threats against our people, our mission, and the rebuilding of Iraq. I personally observed him many times working until 2 a.m. to ensure that his collected intelligence would help as many people as possible in the quickest time. In the process, I am positive he saved the lives of many soldiers with early warnings of impending attacks. When his unit requested to transfer his team to another region of Iraq, he requested to remain with us. He gave his ultimate sacrifice. I personally thank him for his service and wanted to let you know that I witnessed firsthand the great person you can be very proud of. Brave Rifles!” — Captain Paul Kuettner

From Defense Visual Information April 23, 2024

Major General Deborah Kotulich (second from left), Deputy Chief of Army Reserve, helps unveil a plaque dedicated to Staff Sergeant Richard S. Eaton Jr. at the Staff Sergeant Richard S. Eaton Jr. Army Reserve Center memorialization ceremony. Eaton died of heat-related injuries in August 2003 following a firefight in Al-Hit, Iraq. He last served with the 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion.

Staff Sergeant Eaton is buried in Grove Street Cemetery, 227 Grove Street, New Haven, Connecticut; Section 27 Sylvan Avenue, East.

Photo contributed by Sharon Eaton.
Photo by Jeff DeWitt.

SERGEANT STEVEN JOSEPH DELUZIO; ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

DOB/DOD: February 25, 1985 (Hartford, CT) – August 22, 2010; 25 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Engaged to be married to Leeza Gutt (1986-) on September 17, 2011.
LOCAL ADDRESS: Kingswood Drive; South Glastonbury
ENLISTMENT: October 22, 2004
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 11B20; Infantryman
UNIT: A Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment; Vermont Army National Guard

FAMILY: Born to Mark C. (1956-) and Diane Lysik DeLuzio (1956-). One brother, Scott [Army National Guard] (1982-).

DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with device, Iraqi Campaign Medal with two devices, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Armed Forces Reserve Medal with ‘M’ device and ‘2’ device, Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Service Ribbon with ‘2’ device, NATO ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) Medal – Afghanistan, Valorous Unit Award, Navy Unit Commendation, and the Combat Infantryman Badge (1st award).

CIRCUMSTANCES: Sergeant DeLuzio died from wounds sustained at Paktika, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked their unit with small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire. Also killed in the incident:

Army Sergeant Tristan H. Southworth; Walden, Vermont

Glastonbury High School; Class of 2003

The left picture is hockey co-captains Zack Tracey, Justin Tinpano, and Steve DeLuzio.
The top picture is hockey co-captains Zack Tracey, Justin Tinpano, and Steve DeLuzio. Bottom photo is from CTHM (Connecticut Trees of Honor Memorial).

From The Day (New London, CT) on August 25, 2010
Jennifer McDermott | Day Staff Writer

HOME WAS JUST AROUND THE CORNER
National Guard Sergeant Killed In Afghanistan Had Come To Realize What His Roots Really Meant To Him

When Mark DeLuzio saw two uniformed officers at his front door Sunday night, the only question he had was which son had been killed. His younger son, Steven, was in Afghanistan with the Vermont National Guard, and Scott was there with the Connecticut National Guard. The family had not heard from Scott in several weeks while he was on a mission. “Is it Scott?” Mark DeLuzio asked the officers. No, they said. It’s Steven. Sergeant Steven J. DeLuzio, 25, was killed Sunday in Paktika, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire, according to the Defense Department. Another member of the unit, Specialist Tristan H. Southworth, 21, of Walden, Vermont, was also killed in the attack. Southworth was promoted posthumously to sergeant. DeLuzio, an infantryman, was supposed to return home to South Glastonbury next month on leave. He wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday, “20 days until I’m outta here… a lot to look forward to once I get home, can’t wait.” Growing up in South Glastonbury, DeLuzio was an avid hockey player. He was the co-captain of the team at Glastonbury High School in his senior year. After graduating in 2003, he went to Hofstra University for a year and then transferred to Norwich University, a military college in Vermont. He joined the Vermont Army National Guard and had to put his education on hold in January 2006 to serve in Ramadi, Iraq, for six months. He finished his studies at the University of Hartford, graduating in 2009 with a business degree. He was working as an accountant at J.H. Cohn in Glastonbury when his unit, the 172nd Infantry, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) based in Jericho, Vermont, was ordered to Afghanistan. Steven DeLuzio did not have to go to Afghanistan earlier this year, his father said Tuesday. His commitment to the National Guard would have ended while he was away, so he could either re-enlist or stay home. “He was a sergeant, and he did not want his guys to go over by themselves to Afghanistan, so he signed up for another year,” said Mark DeLuzio, who owns Lean Horizons Consulting in Glastonbury. “He fought with those guys in Iraq, and they were very close.” Listening to news reports about the increasing casualties in Afghanistan, Mark DeLuzio and his wife, Diane, have been “on pins and needles every day.” As the military pushed into Taliban strongholds, the death toll for July soared to 66 U.S. service members, surpassing June as the deadliest month in the nearly nine-year war. Last month, Steven DeLuzio wrote on Facebook, “I’m only 25, but feeling closer to 40 these days.” He planned to return home in November with his unit and resume his career as an accountant. He was going to marry his high school sweetheart, Leeza Gutt, next year. He also coached Little League in Glastonbury before leaving for Afghanistan. DeLuzio was on a foot patrol when his unit was attacked, Mark DeLuzio said. The Army sent a Black Hawk helicopter to pick up Sergeant Scott DeLuzio, 28, from the battlefield. He is a member of the 1st Battalion, 102nd Infantry Regiment, the same unit that Staff Sergeant Edwin Rivera of Waterford was serving in when he was killed in May. Scott traveled with Steven’s body to Kuwait before returning home on Tuesday. The family is waiting to find out when Steven will be returned from Dover Air Force Base before finalizing funeral arrangements. Gov. M. Jodi Rell called the DeLuzio family on Tuesday to say that she told the Connecticut National Guard that Scott DeLuzio would not return to Afghanistan, Mark DeLuzio said. Mark DeLuzio said the family is grateful for the outpouring of support from relatives and friends, but his “best therapy” is a smile from Scott’s 9-month-old son. Rell ordered state and U.S. flags to be lowered to half-staff until DeLuzio’s interment. “Please honor the memory of this brave soldier, who gave his life for our liberty,” she said. “We will be forever grateful for his dedication to duty, to our freedom, and the American ideals we hold so dear.” Mark DeLuzio described his son as a “clown.” “He was funny,” he said. “He was serious, and he was a big sports fan. He loved hockey, and he loved baseball. I’m a big Red Sox fan, and he’s a Yankees fan. We always had fun battling each other all through the years. “He was just a great kid.” Steven DeLuzio talked about his life in South Glastonbury in a Facebook message posted on June 25. “Funny, you spend so much time in your younger years making plans of escaping where you grew up, but the older you get, and the more time you spend around the world, the more you appreciate and miss home,” he wrote. “Almost July, only a few more months…”

From The Hartford Courant on August 28, 2010

Sergeant Steven Joseph DeLuzio, 25, of South Glastonbury, CT, died in battle on Sunday (August 22, 2010) in Paktia Province, Afghanistan, while serving with the Vermont National Guard. Steven was born on February 25, 1985, in Hartford, CT. He was the beloved son of Mark C. and Diane (Lysik) DeLuzio of South Glastonbury, where he lived most of his life. Steven graduated from Glastonbury High School in 2003 and was president of his freshman class. He attended Hofstra University in New York, Norwich University in Vermont, and graduated Cum Laude from the University of Hartford in 2009 with a degree in accounting. Before his deployment to Afghanistan, he was employed as an accountant at the CPA firm JH Cohn in Glastonbury. Steven belonged to Company A, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) in Jericho, Vermont. This was Steven’s second tour of duty as he was deployed in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006, earning the Combat Infantryman Badge, Army Commendation Medal, and the Navy Unit Citation from that deployment. For his service in Afghanistan, Steven was also awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, NATO Ribbon, Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Army Good Conduct Medal. Steven was co-captain of the Glastonbury High School hockey team when they won the state championship in 2003. Steven was involved in Glastonbury Little League as an umpire and also coached his team to the Town championship in 2009. He was an avid sports fan and especially loved the New York Yankees and the Boston Bruins. Besides his parents, he is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Sergeant Scott and Victoria DeLuzio of Farmington; his high school sweetheart and fiancée Leeza Gutt of Glastonbury, whom he was to marry on September 17, 2011; his grandfather Joseph Lysik of South Glastonbury; his nephew and godson, Adam DeLuzio; aunts; uncles; numerous cousins and many, many dear friends. Steven always had a smile on his face and could light up a room just by entering it. He was protective, loving, and compassionate and will be greatly missed by all who knew him. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Monday, August 30, at 10 a.m. in St. Paul Church, 2577 Main Street, Glastonbury. Burial with full military honors will follow in Holy Cross Cemetery, Glastonbury. Family and friends may call at St. Paul Church on Sunday, August 29, from 2-7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Sergeant Steven J. DeLuzio Memorial Fund, c/o Merrill Lynch, The Keating Group, 185 Asylum Street, Hartford, CT 06103. For online tributes, please visit http://www.mulryanfh.com.

From The Day (New London, CT) on May 3, 2011
By Jennifer McDermott | Day Staff Writer

FOR U.S. MILITARY, ‘THE JOB IS NOT DONE’
Despite Sacrifices And Successes, The War On Terror Seen As Fight That Won’t End Soon

Mark DeLuzio feels his two sons played a part in the death of Osama bin Laden. Steven and Scott DeLuzio, both sergeants in the Connecticut National Guard, served in Afghanistan with units that helped push the al-Qaida leader into Pakistan, where he was killed Sunday, DeLuzio said. Scott returned home safely from Afghanistan. Steven did not. DeLuzio said that when he heard bin Laden had been killed, he was proud since the entire military contributed, but “we obviously don’t need a watershed event like this to remind us of the sacrifices that people have made.” Steven J. DeLuzio, 25, was killed last August 22 in Paktika, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his Vermont National Guard unit. His father said Monday that bin Laden’s death comforts him — “to a degree.” “From a personal perspective, no, it wasn’t worth it,” said DeLuzio, who lives in South Glastonbury. “From a patriotic perspective, it’s something we’re very proud of.” Of the Connecticut National Guard’s 5,000 airmen and soldiers, close to half have been sent to Afghanistan since September 11, 2001, with some serving there two or three times. About 100 are currently in Afghanistan. “Their efforts have pretty much paid off as a result of what has happened,” said Colonel John Whitford, spokesman for the Connecticut National Guard. There is concern for the Guardsmen in Afghanistan, given the potential for retaliatory strikes against the military because of bin Laden’s death, Whitford said, but these soldiers have been briefed and will continue to receive updates as the situation develops. “The job is not done,” Whitford said Monday. “It’s still not over.” An elite team of Navy SEALs was tapped to get bin Laden, but the Defense Department would not say whether any were based in Groton or if any of the training or planning was done locally. Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Robbins, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said, “We are not releasing this level of detail at this time.” White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan called the successful mission a “defining moment” in the war on terrorism, which could demonstrate that “al-Qaida is something in the past.” “And we’re hoping to bury the rest of al-Qaida along with bin Laden,” he said, according to a transcript of a Monday press briefing. Stephen Flynn, a national security expert from Old Lyme, hailed the successful operation as a “real victory” since bin Laden was “once the effective manager of the war against the U.S. and then became at least the symbolic head.” “Terrorism always relies on a compelling narrative to keep it going,” Flynn said. “Osama bin Laden’s capacity to seemingly avoid capture by the most powerful country in the world helped provide fuel for those in the fight who wanted to stay in the fight.” While his death is a major blow to al-Qaida, Flynn said the terrorist network was already in decline since many of its senior leaders had been captured, killed, or forced into hiding, undermining their ability to plot sophisticated, large-scale attacks. Terrorists who act alone or with a few accomplices will likely mastermind future smaller attacks rather than catastrophic ones, said Flynn, president of the Center for National Policy. Flynn wants to bring attention to the changing nature of terrorism in the hopes that the public will be more resilient in the future and the government will do a better job of informing and involving civilians in the country’s defense. Terrorists count on Americans overreacting to terrorism and embracing draconian measures damaging to the economy, in effect making similar attacks a more attractive option, he added. “We need to move away from the inflated public expectation that the federal government has the capacity to essentially always be successful in protecting and intercepting terrorists to one that’s more realistic,” Flynn said. “The threat will materialize from time to time, even on U.S. soil, and it’s going to tragically lead to the destruction of property and the loss of life. It’s important that we as a society not overreact.” In remarks late Sunday night, President Barack Obama said there is “no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us” and bin Laden’s death “does not mark the end of our effort.”

From The Hartford Courant September 7, 2011
By Matthew Kauffman

CALLED TO SERVICE
Glastonbury’s Scott DeLuzio Is Basically The Same Person
He Was In 2001, But Then Again, Everything Has Changed

Tucked away in Scott DeLuzio’s spacious childhood home are photos and videotapes of DeLuzio as a kid, joined at the hip with his little brother Steven in frozen memories of a patriotic American family. There’s the picture of Scott and Steven dressed in junior camouflage outfits during an air show at Westover Air Force Base and the home movies of the boys squeaking out the national anthem in their high voices. Scott thinks it might have been the first song he ever learned. Mark and Diane DeLuzio had always taught their sons to have pride in America and respect for the armed forces. But honoring military service was always an abstract, and from the comfort of concept, the big house in South Glastonbury, both boys seemed fated for safer paths: four years of college, an accounting degree, a good job at Dad’s consulting firm. And that’s how it was, until the Tuesday morning in September 2001, when Scott walked into a psychology class at Bryant University and students buzzing about a plane that had somehow flown off course and crashed into the World Trade Center. By nightfall, after watching agonizing replays of the second 767 plowing into the South Tower, Scott DeLuzio had made a snap decision to turn his life upside down, trading the prospect of suits and spreadsheets in an air-conditioned office for combat uniforms and an M-16 in the desert. Back home, little brother Steven would eventually have the same idea. A tumultuous decade later, Scott DeLuzio is back in Glastonbury. He’s served his country. He’s gotten his accounting degree. He’s working for his father. He says he’s still fundamentally the same person as that teenager who stared wide-eyed at the fireballs in lower Manhattan and that rookie infantryman strapped into the cargo net seats on a military transport helicopter. But everything has changed. “I wish it could have been different,” DeLuzio said, his easy smile fading, “But I’ve come to the conclusion that I can what-if it to the day I die, so I’ve kind of stopped doing that to myself. “Because that’ll drive you crazy.” Scott DeLuzio was innocent enough on September 11, 2001, that the college sophomore was willing to dismiss early reports of the plane crashes as a fluke. “I didn’t really comprehend the fact that we were under attack because that had never really happened to us,” he said. “But then actually seeing the second plane, I was just like: ‘There’s no way’; they were flying directly at it for quite some time. ‘There’s no way that was just a freak accident.’” And as the scope of the attack was coming into focus, DeLuzio was thinking about his role in the response. “That day, I started really considering: ‘Do I drop out of school and join the Army? Because I know there’s going to be something happening.” His attitude a decade ago was as simple as it was direct: “They did something bad to us; we need to go root them out.” He didn’t drop out, but he did keep his word. And years later, with a college degree, a good job, and every reason in the world to stay home and stay safe, he walked into the Connecticut National Guard Armory in Manchester and signed the paperwork, “I mean, I could have just stuck with the career and went with it,” DeLuzio said. “But it was also at a time when recruiting numbers were at an all-time low, and I said to myself, ‘I’m young, I’m able-bodied. I might as well. Why not me?’” DeLuzio took written tests, suggesting that the college boy would do well at any number of jobs away from the front lines, maybe even officer material. But that seemed the easy way out. Instead, DeLuzio went with the infantry. At home, DeLuzio was working at a local accounting firm and settled into the National Guard routine of training one weekend a month and two weeks a year until word came down in 2009 that his unit was being activated to Afghanistan. For the first time, he was worried. “Had it been the Basic-Training Scott, it would have been: ‘Yeah, let’s do this; let’s go,’” he said. “But my family situation somewhat changed from the time I joined the military to the time I got deployed.” DeLuzio got married in August 2008, and his son was born 15 months later. “So, I was nervous,” he said, “because there were now people who depended on me, and I didn’t want anything to happen to me because I didn’t want them to be affected.” But in November 2009, DeLuzio was aboard a C-130 Hercules en route to a base near the Pakistan border. On the bumpy ride, DeLuzio thought to himself, “This is it. There’s no turning back at this point.” Steven DeLuzio, three years younger than Scott, had been too eager to wait for graduation and joined the Vermont National Guard while at Norwich University, a military school in Northfield, Vermont. He served a tour in Iraq in 2006, then returned home to finish college at the University of Hartford and was deployed to Afghanistan about the same time as Scott. The two brothers overlapped at training in Indiana and were able to grab dinners together. Those memories are seared in Scott’s mind. The trip to the war zone takes several days, with transfers at airports in Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, and cities in Afghanistan. Each time the aircraft doors opened in a new city, Scott thought the air seemed hotter and drier than the last stop. But the large military base by the Pakistani border offered a measure of comfort, with plumbing and gas generators that fed electric lines. Plywood barracks were laid out like city blocks, with a central area that offered food, e-mail, movies, and cell phones. Steven DeLuzio was stationed no more than 100 miles away, but the brothers know that in Afghanistan, that’s not as close as it seems. “That kind of trip would take four or five days driving, just because the terrain’s so rough and you’re going slow and get obstacles and you have to stop,” Scott DeLuzio said. “Yeah, it would have been nice had we gotten to see each other ever while we were over there, but I didn’t actually think it would be a possibility.” But they were in contact and were able to talk openly about the hazards they faced. Scott knew that Steven’s unit was seeing enemy activity on a fairly regular basis. “I guess his base was just in a more dangerous area than mine was,” Scott DeLuzio said. Scott’s unit primarily had a border patrol mission, keeping the supply line open for non-lethal NATO supplies coming through Pakistan and securing against enemy agents who might try to slip across the border. The days were generally peaceful, and DeLuzio never felt in real fear for his life. But there were a string of missions off the base as well. In August 2010, DeLuzio’s battalion was assigned to track down Taliban operatives in various villages throughout the country. In some places, residents were ecstatic at the appearance of us. In others, they cast a skeptical eye and scurried away. Nearly two weeks into the operation, the missions were still going on, and DeLuzio’s unit prepared to search another village at daybreak on August 22. “We had flown in the night before to the top of a mountain nearby one of these villages, and that whole day, we were kind of rooting around through one of the villages and came back up afterward,” DeLuzio said. “And that’s when I found out about Steve.”

It had been a productive day in the village, with the discovery of useful intelligence and the apprehension of several people believed to be working with the Taliban. The day began before dawn, and by mid-afternoon, DeLuzio had made his way back up the mountain. “I heard on the radio they were looking for me — the commander was looking for me,” DeLuzio said. “And I was like: What did I do? I started checking all my equipment, all my guys’ equipment. Who lost something? Who did something wrong? That was my initial thought.” He found the commander and quickly surmised no one lost any equipment — “because he already would have been yelling at me for it.” “So, then I started thinking, ‘OK, well, maybe something happened to someone back home.’ I started thinking: ‘I have elderly relatives, so maybe someone sent a Red Cross message about that. I thought maybe someone had gotten into a car accident,” DeLuzio said. “My brother didn’t even cross my mind.” The commander took him aside and told him Steven had been in a bad firefight, and he began rattling off the vague details of the battle before Scott cut him off. “I asked him: ‘Well, is he OK?’” DeLuzio said. “And he said, ‘Well, there’s really no point in beating around the bush here. He didn’t make it?” Sergeant Steven J. DeLuzio had been co-captain of the state champion Glastonbury High School hockey team. He was the family goof who liked to mug for the camera. He had a wedding date 13 months out with his fiancée, Leeza Gutt. He was Scott DeLuzio’s kid brother. On August 22, 2010, Steven DeLuzio and other soldiers were on patrol in a mountainous area in Paktya Province. The ambush was precise and deadly. DeLuzio was struck in the head in the initial volley of bullets and died almost instantly. The firefight lasted two hours and took the life of another Vermont National Guard member, Tristan H. Southworth. Scott DeLuzio broke down when told of Steven’s death, but he wasn’t given much time to mourn. “Shortly after I got word of my brother’s passing, we started getting attacked, just some potshots,” he said. “I didn’t really have the time to feel sorry for myself or feel sorry for my brother or anything, and I had to avoid maybe the possibility of my parents getting a second knock on the door that same day.” The knock came at 9:30 pm. in Glastonbury, and Mark and Diane DeLuzio opened the door to the terrifying sight of Army officers. It was more than Mark could process. “I actually felt it was happening to someone else,” he said. “It took a while for it to sink in.” In Afghanistan, fellow soldiers circled Scott DeLuzio and never gave him grief for crying. Within hours, a helicopter had landed on the mountain to pick up DeLuzio and a couple of wounded soldiers. He never returned to his base.

Two weeks ago, on the anniversary of Steven’s death, hundreds of relatives and friends gathered under perfectly sunny skies at the Glastonbury Hills Country Club for the first annual Sergeant Steven J. DeLuzio Memorial Golf Tournament, which raised money for college scholarships and military charities. There were 44 golfers and twice as many at an evening banquet. There were smiles all around and laughs and ribbing about golf skills. But earlier that morning, Mark and Diane DeLuzio still woke up to August 22 and shared a long private hug to mark the day. Then, they pinned gold stars on their shirts and headed into the glaring sun. “We’re still grieving over it,” Mark DeLuzio said. “And that’s just the way it’s going to be.” Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, there is a photo in Scott DeLuzio’s family room of the two brothers at Scott’s wedding, acting silly in their formal Army dress uniforms. Scott thinks about when and how he’ll explain to his son what happened to Uncle Steve. But he hasn’t lost faith in the mission. Still, he says his perspective on the Middle East has evolved since the smoke ‘em out attitude of his youth. Having served in Afghanistan, he says he understands the value – for American security – of helping the Afghanis build a stable and peaceful country. “I still think that if we were to leave today and just everyone picked up and left, I don’t know that the Taliban would have much trouble getting back into power,” he said. If it means we have to be over there to save another 3,000 people from another 9/11, then so be it.” DeLuzio said he’s proud he served and proud to be able to carry that record of service for the rest of his life. But his mother sees a more immediate benefit. “I think had he not joined, and we had this end result, I think he might have felt guilty,” Diane DeLuzio said. “But having also served, I think he’s at peace.” Scott DeLuzio, a man not taken to heavy self-analysis, concedes she’s probably right. If I hadn’t served, maybe I would have some regrets, and maybe I would have blamed myself,” he said. Even now, he catches himself wondering if there’s something he could have done. What if he had joined the Vermont National Guard? What if he had served alongside Steven? “But I try not to do that to myself and everybody else,” he quickly adds. “Like I said, that will drive you crazy.”

Sergeant DeLuzio is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, 17 Wickham Road, Glastonbury, Connecticut; Section 1, Lot L23.

Photos by Jeff DeWitt

SERGEANT FELIX MARIO DEL GRECO, JR.; ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

DOB/DOD: July 18, 1981 (Hartford, CT) – April 9, 2004; 22 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Alcima Drive; Simsbury
ENLISTMENT: August 20, 2001
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 746; Automatic Rifleman
UNIT: C Company, 1st Battalion, 102nd Infantry Regiment; Bristol, Connecticut

FAMILY: Born to Felix M., Sr. (1942-2021) and Claire R. Deschenes Del Greco (1949-2008). Sister, Alexa (1974-).

DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal with device, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Expeditionary), Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Armed Forces Reserve Medal with ‘M’ and ‘2’ device, Army NCO Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, NATO ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) Medal – Yugoslavia, and the Combat Infantryman Badge (1st award).

CIRCUMSTANCES: Sergeant Del Greco was killed when an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire struck his mounted patrol in Baghdad.

OTHER: Felix was an Eagle Scout who used to tell a friend about his plans to run for President. As a teen, he knew he would join the military and enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1999 while still a student at Simsbury High School in Simsbury, Connecticut. He deployed to Bosnia in 2001 and to West Point in 2003 in the operation ordered by President Bush for homeland defense. He became a favorite cook on campouts despite some of his very strange, original recipes. In fact, his military comrades appointed him an unofficial cook during the nine-month stint at West Point. Felix volunteered to go to Iraq in December, and in March, his unit arrived in Kuwait and began operations in Baghdad two days before his death. Felix was full of love, life, and dreams. On visits back home, he would often show up proudly in his uniform at his old school.

Simsbury High School; Class of 1999. The photo on the right is from Ancestry.com.

From The Hartford Courant on April 16, 2004

Felix “Fee Fee” Del Greco lived in Simsbury for 20 years and attended Simsbury High School. There, he was a participant in many school activities, including the jazz band and other musical activities. He loved to play the harmonica and entertained many people with his own style of wit. People were important to him, and he was ready to help anyone who needed him. He was also a scholar and read a myriad of books since he was a small child. He traveled frequently as his interests were not only in his community but also extended far beyond his own world. He was a proud and loyal member of Boy Scout Troop 76 and had great respect for the leaders. With the help of his friends, he became an Eagle Scout and had the utmost respect for his first leader, Richard Gugliemetti, who he had continued to keep in touch with. Felix was a fun-loving, intelligent person who touched the lives of everyone he knew. Felix was a proud American who enlisted into the Connecticut Army National Guard in March of 1999, where he served with the 242d Engineer Battalion. In January of 2001, he transferred to B Company, 1-102d Infantry, where he volunteered to deploy to Bosnia on a peacekeeping mission. While serving in Bosnia for six months, Sergeant Del Greco earned the distinction of Soldier of the Rotation amongst over 10,000 multi-national forces. Sergeant Del Greco returned from Bosnia in March of 2002. In April 2003, Sergeant Del Greco volunteered to deploy again in support of Operation Noble Eagle Ill and was stationed at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. After nine months at West Point, Sergeant Del Greco returned to Connecticut in December 2003 only to immediately volunteer in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II and departed for the Middle Eastern Theatre on January 5, 2004. Sergeant Felix Del Greco graduated from the Army’s Primary Leadership Development Course on the Commandant’s List. Among his awards are the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” device (2nd Award), the Noncommissioned Officer’s Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, and the NATO Medal. Felix leaves behind his parents, Felix and Claire, his beloved sister, Alexa, and his “adopted” sister, Nicole Bonadies. He also leaves behind his beloved Auntie Anita Gomes; his wonderful Uncle Francisco and their children, Francisco, Suzette, Sarah (Scarah), and little Jenna; his beloved Auntie Bela Beaupre, her husband, George, and their children, Alex and Michael; his beloved, Uncle Joey, Cheryl, and their children; his Aunt Suzette Kennedy, her husband, Gordon and their sons, David and Paul; his Uncle Will Deschenes, his wife, Rita, their daughter, Laura, and their deceased son, Steven; his Great Aunt and Uncle, Dolly and Louis and their children; Aunt Angela, cousin John and his wife, Nicole, and their baby Danielle. Felix was a wanderer who loved to explore the world. He had an inquisitive mind, ready wit, and constant smile. He will be missed by so many of his friends, who are too numerous to mention. He gave so much love and pleasure to so many people which will never be forgotten. Calling hours will be Friday from 4-8 p.m. at the Sheehan Hilborn Breen Funeral Home, 1084 New Britain Ave., West Hartford. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday at 10 a.m. in the Cathedral of St Joseph, 140 Farmington Ave., Hartford, with Bishop Peter Rosazza as the principal celebrant. It is requested that everyone meet directly at the Cathedral. Burial with full military honors will be in Mt. St. Benedict Cemetery, Bloomfield.

From The Hartford Courant April 18, 2004

DON STACOM | COURANT STAFF WRITER

SOLEMN WORDS FOR FALLEN SOLDIER
Family, Guardsmen Honor Del Greco

Proclaiming that Sergent Felix Del Greco did not die in vain; the commander of Connecticut’s National Guard told Del Greco’s survivors and friends Saturday that the young soldier from Simsbury would be remembered as a hero and patriot. “Sergeant Del Greco far exceeded military standards,” Major General William A. Cugno said in his eulogy at Del Greco’s funeral. “He was a true professional; he took pride in his fellow soldiers, and he served as a model for his peers.” Relatives, friends, and hundreds of National Guard soldiers attended the service at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford to honor Del Greco, who was killed in an ambush in Iraq on April 9. Soldiers from the Guard’s 102nd Infantry Regiment lined the steps to the cathedral, saluting as Del Greco’s coffin was carried inside. His death was the first combat fatality in Iraq suffered by the state’s Guard since the Persian Gulf War in 1991. ‘This is a very sad day for us in the Connecticut National Guard,” Cugno told reporters before the funeral. “It hurts.” He said other members of Del Greco’s unit, who remain on duty in Baghdad, have “taken the loss quite hard.” Del Greco and about 40 soldiers in the 102nd’s 1st Battalion, C Company had volunteered for assignment to Iraq and underwent special training during the winter before being sent overseas in March. They arrived in Baghdad on April 7, and Del Greco was killed during his first 36 hours in the country. His Humvee was struck by an improvised bomb and then came under small arms fire, according to initial reports. The military has given no further details about the attack. Governor John G. Rowland, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Representative John Larson, and Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez were among the dignitaries who attended. At the Del Greco family’s request, the press was barred from his wake Friday evening in West Hartford, the funeral, and the burial at Mount St. Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield. Cugno, however, provided a copy of his eulogy to the press. “Sergeant Del Greco exemplified our defense forces’ motto: Duty, honor, country,” Cugno said. “His legacy will be one of strength, discipline, courage, compassion, and sacrifice.” After the funeral, Perez said he kept thinking of what Del Greco, 22, might have done in the future. “This family resonates with Hartford. This is the guy next door,” Perez said. “He knew what service and duty were — these were principles he carried in his life. You hear about this person full of promise, and it humbles you to think of the promise that was lost,” Perez said. “Look at what he did in 22 years, and you wonder what he could have done in the other 60-plus years.” Del Greco was the 13th person with Connecticut ties to die in Iraq or Afghanistan. Police closed off a block of Farmington Avenue for more than two hours to accommodate mourners.

Memorialized on Route 309 in Simsbury from Sugar Loaf Cut, running east to the junction of Route 167. Photo by Jeff DeWitt.

Memorialized on the Simsbury Veterans Memorial, 754 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, Connecticut.

Photos by Jeff DeWitt.

Memorialized at Camp Nett, 38 Smith Street, Niantic, Connecticut. The memorial brick with his name is on the right in the row closest to the monument.

Photos by Jeff DeWitt

Memorialized on the 1st Battalion, 102nd Infantry Monument, Long Wharf Drive, and Sargent Drive, New Haven, Connecticut.

Photo by Jeff DeWitt

Sergeant Del Greco is buried in Mount Saint Benedict Cemetery, 1 Cottage Grove Road, Bloomfield, Connecticut; Triangle Section, North of Circle, Lot 3, Grave 2.

Photo by Jeff DeWitt

PRIVATE FIRST CLASS ANTHONY DOMENIC D’AGOSTINO; ARMY

DOB/DOD: November 6, 1982 (Grovetown, GA) – November 2, 2003; 20 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Yeaton Street; Waterbury
ENLISTMENT: April 10, 2002
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 31R; Multichannel Transmission Systems Operator-Maintainer
UNIT: 313th Signal Company (TROPO), 16th Signal Brigade; Fort Hood, Texas

FAMILY: Born to Steven A. D’Agostino [Army veteran] (1958-) and Debra A. DeLoughery D’Agostino Smith (1960-). Stepfather, Paul Granahan (1959-). One sister, Lisa D’Agostino (1984-).

DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Expeditionary), Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Service Ribbon, and the Signal Badge.

CIRCUMSTANCES: He was one of 15 soldiers killed when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were in was shot down. They were on their way to Qatar for R&R. The others killed in the incident:

Army 1st Lieutenant Brian D. Slavenas; Genoa, Illinois
Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bruce A. Smith; West Liberty, Iowa
Army Staff Sergeant Daniel A. Bader; Colorado Springs, Colorado
Army Staff Sergeant Ernest G. Bucklew; Enon Valley, Pennsylvania
Army Staff Sergeant Paul A. Velazquez; San Diego, California
Army Staff Sergeant Joe N. Wilson; Crystal Springs, Mississippi
Army Sergeant Keelan L. Moss; Houston, Texas
Army Sergeant Ross A. Pennanen; Shawnee, Oklahoma
Army Sergeant Joel Perez; Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
Army Specialist Steven D. Conover; Wilmington, Ohio
Army Specialist Darius T. Jennings; Cordova, South Carolina
Army Specialist Brian H. Penisten; Fort Wayne, Indiana
Army Specialist Frances M. Vega; Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico
Army Private First Class Karina S. Lau; Livingston, California

W.F. Kaynor Regional Technical-Vocational High School, Waterbury; Class of 2001. No senior picture.

Monument outside of W.F. Kaynor Technical High School and a copy of the front page of the school’s annual program to honor alumni who died in the military. Photos contributed by Art Greene, Library Media Specialist.

Photo from CTHM (Connecticut Trees of Honor Memorial).

From The Hartford Courant on November 4, 2003

Private First Class Anthony D. D’Agostino of Connecticut was among 16 U.S. soldiers killed when a missile

downed an Army helicopter in Iraq over the weekend, never shirked tough or dangerous duty, his stepfather said Monday. “Actually, if you could possibly say this, he enjoyed it a little bit,” said Paul Granahan of Waterbury. “You know the fact that there was danger there. He was doing what he wanted to do, and he was a young man.” D’Agostino, who grew up in Middlebury and last lived in Waterbury, died Sunday, four days short of his 21st birthday. A shoulder-fired missile hit the packed Chinook helicopter carrying D’Agostino and other soldiers out for two weeks of leave. Assigned to the 16th Signal Brigade in Fort Hood, Texas, D’Agostino had been in Iraq for six months, serving as a radio operator and electrical repairman. The guerrilla attack was the single deadliest assault against U.S. troops since the war began in March. Sixteen soldiers were killed, and another 20 were injured. D’Agostino was proud to be serving in Iraq, family members said. But his family was nervous. “You never stop worrying,” said his aunt, Beth Santos. D’Agostino joined the military after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, looking for an education, career, and a place to belong, Santos said. He hoped to go to the U.S. Military Academy. When he wrote letters or e-mails home from Iraq, he talked about the hot weather and how uncomfortable the situation was, Santos said. He would ask his family for Kool-Aid to flavor his water, for crossword puzzles, and for books to help him learn Spanish. “He was always looking for ways to better himself,” she said. “We wanted to make good use of his time over there.” Born at Fort Gordon, Georgia, while his father was in the military. D’Agostino graduated from Kayner Regional Vocational-Technical School in Waterbury with a specialty in electricity, his family said. Donald Slater, who lives in Middlebury next door to D’Agostino’s grandparents, said he was struck by D’Agostino’s work ethic. Slater recalled that the fit young man would cut his grandparents’ vast lawn with a stand-up mower. “He was the all-American boy,” Slater said, standing on his front porch. “He was a handsome boy. Strong. A hard worker. Smart. Had everything going for him. “He gave his life for his country.” The CH-47 Chinook helicopter was downed as it carried the soldiers to the U.S. base at Baghdad International Airport so they could fly out for their leave. The soldiers were from Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Another casualty, Sergeant Ernest G. Bucklew, 33, of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Fort Carson, had grabbed a seat on Sunday’s flight after receiving word that his mother had died of an aneurysm at her home near Pittsburgh. Now, mother and son will be buried together. The helicopter’s pilot, First Lieutenant Brian D. Slavenas, 30, a National Guard officer from Genoa, Illinois, died as he landed the flaming aircraft. His piloting may have been why 20 soldiers survived the attack, suggested his mother, Rosemarie Slavenas of Rockford, Illinois. Despite his passion for flying, he was not eager to do so in Iraq. “He did not want to go on this operation,” she said. “He told me on the phone that he resigned his commission and then wasn’t allowed to resign. “The last time I saw him, he said, ‘I don’t want to hurt anybody.’” Another casualty, Private First Class Karina S. Lau, 20, a radio operator who trained at Fort Hood, had planned to surprise her parents by going home to Livingston, California, on leave. “I’m in shock. I can’t believe it, not yet,” said her mother, Ruth Lau. “Until I see the body, I’m thinking maybe it’s a mistake. Maybe she’s OK. She was my baby girl.” Governor John G. Rowland on Monday ordered state flags lowered to half-staff in honor of D’Agostino, the sixth member of the military from Connecticut to die in Iraq. “His loss is a terrible reminder of the thousands of men and women in uniform who are still selflessly fighting the global war on terrorism to preserve our freedoms,” Rowland said in a news release. Middlebury First Selectman Edward St. John, who knew D’Agostino’s parents, said the town of 6,000 was devastated. The D’Agostinos were longtime residents of Middlebury, he said. “This touches everyone. We lost many in Vietnam, but this is our first casualty in the Gulf Wars,” St. John said. “It’s a shocking thing,” Slater, the neighbor, said. “He was so young.” Courant staff Writers Katie Melone, Ann Marie Somma, and Joann Klimkiewicz contributed to this story, which includes material from the Associated Press and the Washington Post.

From Chinook-Helicopter.com

FALLUJAH, Iraq – A U.S. Chinook helicopter carrying troops en route home for leave was struck by a missile Sunday and crashed west of Baghdad, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 26, the U.S. command and witnesses reported.

It was the deadliest day for American troops in the six-month-old occupation of Iraq and came amid threats attributed to Saddam Hussein’s party of a wave of violence against the U.S. occupation.

There was still no sign of the rumored “Day of Resistance” allegedly planned for Baghdad on Saturday. But at least one other American soldier was confirmed killed Sunday in ground attacks here and elsewhere in central Iraq.

Witnesses said they saw two missiles fired at the heavy transport copter, the biggest U.S. target yet shot from the skies by Iraq’s insurgents. It had been ferrying soldiers to Baghdad International Airport for flights out of the country for rest and relaxation, or R & R.

The aircraft was hit at about 9 a.m. (06:00 GMT) and crashed amid corn fields near the village of Hasi, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Baghdad and 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Fallujah, a center of Sunni Muslim resistance to the U.S. occupation.

Insurgents have fired on U.S. aircraft before, downing two helicopters, and American military officials have repeatedly warned that hundreds of shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles remain unaccounted for in Iraq since the collapse of Saddam’s regime in April.

The missiles apparently flashed toward the helicopter from behind, as usual, with heat-seeking missiles such as the Russian-made SA-7. The old Iraqi army had a large inventory of SA-7s, also known as the “Strela” shoulder-fired missile. In Washington, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said such weapons “do have the ability to shoot down aircraft or helicopters, and from time to time it happens in various locations.” Secretary Rumsfeld told NBC television that at least 10 of the dead were US soldiers. There is no confirmation of the type of weapon system that was fired at the helicopter. Only the completion of a thorough investigation will reveal this information.

Secretary Rumsfeld went on to say, “It’s clearly a tragic day for America … In a long, hard war, we’re going to have tragic days,” Rumsfeld said. “But they’re necessary. They’re part of a war that’s difficult and complicated.”

“The Chinook was shot down by an unknown weapon,” a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said on condition of anonymity. U.S. command in Baghdad said there were 16 killed and 20 wounded and that a search was underway for possible other survivors. A U.S. military spokesman, Colonel William Darley, confirmed the casualty count but said the cause of the crash was under investigation. He said witnesses reported seeing what they believed were missile trails. “As a result of the crash, 15 were killed in action and 26 wounded,” said Darley, confirming the dead were soldiers from the US-led coalition but without specifying how many were Americans.

The death toll surpasses the 23 March ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company, in which 11 soldiers were killed, nine were wounded, and seven were captured, including Private Jessica Lynch.

The helicopter was part of a formation of two Chinooks carrying a total of more than 50 passengers to the U.S. base at the former Saddam International Airport, renamed Baghdad International Airport, which the military calls BIA.

“Our initial report is that they were being transported to BIA for R and R flights,” a U.S. command spokeswoman in Baghdad said. She said at least some were coming from Camp Ridgway, believed to be an 82nd Airborne Division base in western Iraq.

Villagers said the copters took off from the air base at Habbaniyah, about 10 miles northwest of the crash site. At the scene, villager Thaer Ali, 21, said someone fired two missiles from the area of a date palm grove about 500 yards from where the stricken copter crashed.

“I saw two helicopters coming from (the US military airport in) Habbaniyah. Two missiles were fired; one of them missed one of the helicopters, and the other hit the tail of the other aircraft,” said taxi driver Rauf Suleiman Abed, 35.

Farmer Mohamad al-Issawi told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “a projectile struck the tail of the helicopter at around 9:00 am. I saw fire coming out of the front of the aircraft, which then crashed.” Issawi said the owner of the land where the helicopter crashed “fled the area with his family of some 15 people immediately after the explosion.” “Human remains were found 500 yards away,” he said.

Yassin Mohamed, another witness, said he ran out of his house, a half-mile away, when he heard an explosion. “I saw the Chinook burning. I ran toward it because I wanted to help put out the fire, but couldn’t get near because of American soldiers.”

Shortly after 9 a.m. on Sunday, Abdul Rahman Hatem stepped outside his home in a farming village just south of Fallujah to watch two twin-rotored U.S. Army Chinook helicopters lumber across the cloudless sky. Moments later, two orange flashes burst from a cluster of date palms a few hundred yards away.

The lead Chinook, Hatem says, discharged flares to deflect the first incoming missile, but a second slammed into the underbelly of the other low-flying military helicopter, which exploded in a ball of fire. “I watched two bodies fall out of the helicopter. They were in flames,” said Hatem. The crippled chopper stayed aloft for another half-mile or so, then plummeted into a field after the pilots lost the desperate battle to control the stricken craft.

Witnesses said the second copter hovered over the downed craft for some minutes and then set down, apparently to try to help extinguish a fire. The downed copter was already destroyed.

At least a half-dozen Black Hawk helicopters later hovered over the area, and dozens of soldiers swarmed over the site. Injured were still being evacuated at least two hours later. Villagers displayed blackened pieces of wreckage to arriving reporters.

The Army helicopter that was shot down was equipped with a standard package of defensive equipment, including a missile alert system and flares designed to decoy a missile, a U.S. officer said Wednesday.

An Illinois senator, whose state National Guard had provided the helicopter, had written to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld asking whether the helicopter had been properly equipped.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin wrote of his concern that the CH-47D Chinook helicopter “may not have had necessary or fully complete aircraft survivability equipment,” including seat armor to protect against shrapnel.

Army Colonel William Darley, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said on Wednesday that the helicopter had an ALQ-156 defensive system, including a flare dispenser, that is standard equipment on all Chinooks, whether active duty or National Guard.

Pentagon officials said that as far as could be determined, all transport helicopters in Iraq have the standard package of defensive systems. That equipment is not foolproof, however, especially in cases where the helicopter is flying at very low altitudes, allowing little reaction time.

“This was a new lesson from the resistance, a lesson to the greedy aggressors,” said one Iraqi in nearby Fallujah, who wouldn’t give his name. “They’ll never be safe until they get out of our country,” he said of the Americans.

Others were celebrating word of the helicopter downing and also a fresh attack on U.S. soldiers in Fallujah itself, where witnesses said an explosion struck one vehicle in a U.S. Army convoy at about 9 a.m. Sunday. They claimed four soldiers died, but U.S. military sources said they couldn’t confirm the report.

The presence of the portable anti-aircraft missiles has represented a significant threat for military aircraft and raised concerns over the security of the few commercial flights in and out of Baghdad International Airport. The U.S.-led coalition has offered rewards of $500 a piece to Iraqis who turn in the weapons.

As of Sunday night, this Chinook was the third helicopter known to have been brought down by Iraq’s insurgents since President Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq on 1 May 2003. The 15 soldiers killed in the crash on Sunday, plus 1 other death in a separate attack and two U.S. civilians working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers killed in Fallujah by a roadside bomb, brings to 139 the number of U.S. military personnel who were combat fatalities since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities, and 377 since the start of military operations in Iraq, according to the latest Department of Defense figures. Since the start of military operations, 1,811 U.S. service members have been injured as a result of hostile action, according to U.S. Central Command. Non-hostile injured numbered 338.

Five of those on board were helicopter crew members assigned to the Army’s 12th Aviation Brigade, flying in support of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, officials said. The other soldiers were believed to be stationed at Camp Ridgeway, the western Iraq headquarters for the 82nd Airborne.

Four of those injured were members of an Iowa Army National Guard unit based in Davenport, National Guard spokesman Colonel Robert King said. Names were not immediately available for the guardsmen, who were part of the helicopter’s crew and are members of Detachment 1, Company F, 106th Aviation, King said. He added that he had mixed reports on the soldiers’ medical conditions and would not release those details. The helicopter shot down near Fallujah was part of a Peoria, Illinois, based unit that serves as headquarters for Company F, he said.

Fort Carson, Colorado, officials confirmed at least some of their own were injured in the crash but would not give an exact number or confirm whether any from the post were among the 15 dead until all the relatives had been notified, said Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Budzyna.

A U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter crash-landed on 25 October in Tikrit after being hit by an unknown weapon, injuring one crewmember. On 12 June, a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter was shot down by hostile fire in the western desert, and two crewmembers were rescued unhurt.

The Pentagon had announced Friday it was expanding the home leave program for troops in Iraq, to fly more soldiers out of the region each day and take them to more U.S. airports. As of Sunday, it said, the number of soldiers departing daily via a transit facility in neighboring Kuwait would be increased to 480 from 280.

The workhorse, 10-ton Chinook, which has a crew of four, is the military’s most versatile heavy-lift helicopter, used primarily for troop movements, transporting artillery, and similar functions.

The downing of the Chinook came after what U.S. occupation chief L. Paul Bremer on Saturday called “a tough week” in Iraq, beginning with an insurgent rocket attack on Sunday against a Baghdad hotel housing hundreds of his Coalition Provisional Authority staff members. One was killed and 15 wounded in that attack.

A day later, four coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad killed three dozen people and wounded more than 200, and that was followed by widespread rumors and leaflets threatening an escalation in the anti-U.S. resistance. Attacks against U.S. forces had already stepped up in the previous week to an average of 33 a day.

Since its development over 40 years ago, several CH-47 Chinook helicopters have been shot down by SA-7 missiles. A total of five CH-47A helicopters owned and operated by the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), previously the property of the U.S. Army, were lost during the conflict due to SA-7 missile attacks. Numerous airframes have been lost due to Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) and mortar fire. Prior to Sunday’s attack, the most recent downing of a Chinook was when an MH-47E helicopter was lost in the “War on Terrorism” in Afghanistan.

From e-mails with Anthony D’Agostino’s mother, Debra Smith. Used with permission.

“My son, Anthony, was my firstborn and grew up to serve our country. Was it a path I wanted for him? I can honestly say no. The day he left the recruiting office on East Main Street in Waterbury, I had a terrible feeling! However, as a Mom of a young man, not a little boy, I had to let him go. I didn’t say anything, but I wish I did!! This memory is still in my thoughts 21 years later. Could I have stopped him? Probably not; however, am I proud he served? YES!! Years have passed, and thoughts of his life pass through my head if he survived. Would he be married, would he have children, would he be successful as an electrician, would he be the same young man that he was before he became a soldier? So many come back from war, and they are not the same because of what they went through. I don’t know, and maybe that’s a good thing. In the end, he did what he thought was what he needed to do, and I support that 100 percent. I believe in God, and he has a path we all follow in life, and Anthony followed his path. My path is to be there for my daughter, Lisa, her husband, Alvin, and my granddaughter, Joy. We remember Anthony in our hearts each day, each Memorial Day, each Veterans Day, each holiday that he’s not with us.”

Honored on the City of Waterbury (CT) Global War On Terrorism Memorial

Photo by Jeff DeWitt

Private First Class D’Agostino is buried in Calvary Cemetery, 2324 East Main Street, Waterbury, Connecticut; Section 49, Lot 6, Grave 8. The coin in the top left corner of the footstone says, “To Thine Own Self Be True; Unity, Service, Recovery.”

Photos by Jeff DeWitt

STAFF SERGEANT ARI RICHARD CULLERS; ARMY

DOB/DOD: March 30, 1983 (New London, CT) – October 30, 2011; 28 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Phillips Street; Waterford
ENLISTMENT: October 2004
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 63W10; Wheel Vehicle Repair
UNIT: Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade, Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division; Fort Drum, New York

FAMILY: Born to Benjamin D. (1958-) and Robin E. Cornele Cullers (1959-). Stepfather, Tim Forsyth (1962-). One brother, Jacob [Air Force veteran] (1986-).

DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, four Army Achievement Medals, Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Army Good Conduct Medals, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, three Afghanistan Campaign Medals, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, three Overseas Service Ribbons, NATO ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) Medal – Afghanistan, Combat Action Badge, and the Driver and Mechanic Badge.

CIRCUMSTANCES: Died October 30, 2011, in Ghariban, Afghanistan, of injuries caused by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.

OTHER: Ari was a Red Sox fan and loved the New York Giants! He loved fishing and went many times with his stepdad Tim! He loved nature, so camping and fishing were what he would do with his free time. He loved to gather with family and friends. Ari always got people laughing, including his battle brothers. He would imitate his aunt’s dance moves, which made everyone laugh. He was always the life of the party. He always wanted to be a GI Joe. [From Ari Cullers’ mother, Robin]

Waterford High School Class of 2001

Photo contributed by Jill Adams, Head of Adult Services, Waterford Public Library.
Photo from CTHM (Connecticut Trees of Honor Memorial).

From The Day (New London, CT) on November 6, 2011

WATERFORD — Staff Sergeant Ari Richard Cullers, 28, of Waterford, died on Sunday, October 30, 2011, in Afghanistan due to injuries received. He was born in New London on March 30, 1983. He attended Clark Lane Middle School and graduated from Waterford High School in 2001. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was soon to finish his second enlistment. He is survived by his mother, Robin E. Cornele of Waterford; his stepfather, Tim Forsyth (Sergeant First Class, retired, Army National Guard); and his brother, Jacob Cullers of Waterford, who served in the Air Force from 2005 until 2009 and served seven months at Camp Bucca in Iraq. He is also survived by four uncles, Daniel Coleman of Niantic, Kimball Poletti of Salem, Shawn Cornele of New Haven, and Jeffery Epperson of Florida; four aunts, Carol Coleman of New London, Pamela Coleman of Waterford, Kathy Coleman of New London, and Patricia Burt of Norwich. He was predeceased by his grandmother, Madeline Epperson. Relatives and friends are invited to attend calling hours from noon until 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011, at Camp Niantic. A service will be conducted at 3 p.m. by Rev. Joseph Castaldi. Interment will be private in St. Mary’s Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to the Wounded Warrior Project (woundedwarrior.org). The Thomas L. Neilan & Sons Funeral Home, 12 Ocean Avenue, New London, is assisting the family and invites you to visit www. neilanfuneralhome.com for directions or to leave a condolence message for Sergeant Cullers’ family.

From tributebook.com

We are the parents of the other soldier, Todd Lomax, who was with Ari when the accident occurred. We met Ari last year the day the platoon was deploying. The last thing Ari said to us was that he would bring our son home safe. Our hearts are so sad for Ari’s friends and family. We wish we could be there to express our condolences; however, we are in Maryland at the hospital where our son is recovering. He has a long road ahead of him but will be ok physically. Losing his sergeant and friend will be in his heavy heart forever. His grandparents will be at the service to represent us. God Bless. You are in our daily thoughts and prayers.

— Todd and Sonya Lomax

Staff Sergeant Cullers is buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery, 600 Jefferson Avenue, New London, Connecticut; Section SSM, Lot A25, Space 5.

Photos by Jeff DeWitt.

SPECIALIST ANDRE “DRE” CRAIG JR.; ARMY

DOB/DOD: June 18, 1983 (New Haven, CT) – June 24, 2007; 24 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
CHILDREN: One daughter, Taylor Marcel Craig (2007-).
LOCAL ADDRESS: Rosette Street; New Haven
ENLISTMENT: October 2005
Military Occupational Specialty: 11B; Infantryman
UNIT: 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division; Fort Riley, Kansas

FAMILY: Born to Andre Sr. (1956-) and Joyce D. Cook Craig (1959-). Two sisters, Valencia Craig Cook (1977-) and Debra Cook-Russell (1979-). Three brothers, Michael Cook (1982-), Jonathan Craig (1986-), and Matthew Craig (1988-). One half-brother, Andrew Brown (1981-). One half-sister, Nashimma Williams (1979-).

DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal with device, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Service Ribbon, Valorous Unit Award, and the Combat Infantry Badge (1st award).

OTHER: Andre’s mother shared that he liked watching Army movies. He would ride his bicycle to his grandmother’s house across town and go to the grocery store for her. He also tutored and mentored kids in the neighborhood. It wasn’t until his funeral that his family found out he had that kind of impact on the kids.

Photo contributed by CTHM (Connecticut Trees of Honor Memorial).

From The Day (New London, CT) on June 28, 2007
By John Christofferson | AP Writer

SOLDIER FROM NEW HAVEN DIES IN IRAQ BOMBING
Family spokesman says infantryman, father of 1, saw ‘deplorable’ scenes

NEW HAVEN — The family of a soldier killed in Iraq Monday blamed his death on exhaustion, saying soldiers there are not getting enough rest. Private First Class Andre Craig Jr., 24, of New Haven, died of wounds sustained from the explosion of a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Craig, a graduate of Wilbur Cross High School, was an infantryman assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division in Fort Riley, Kansas. He entered the Army in October 2005 and began serving with the 1st Infantry Division in March 2006. This was his first deployment to Iraq. Craig, whose nickname was Dre, called his family by cell phone Saturday to tell them he was on 24-hour security duty, said Erik Brown, his godfather and family spokesman. After that, Craig went out on a mission and was killed, he said. “He was very tired, he was exhausted,” Brown said Thursday. “Due to that exhaustion, we believe that’s why we lost Andre. The soldiers are not getting rest, and they’re tired.” An Army spokeswoman did not respond for comment. Brown and family members wore T-shirts with Craig’s picture and the words, “Dre 2007 in God we trust.” Craig, 24, returned to New Haven recently for a brief visit to celebrate his birthday and to meet his infant daughter, Taylor, who was born while he was serving in Iraq. Craig described “deplorable” conditions in Iraq, including women being raped and feces in the street, Brown said. “They’re terrorizing each other, and we have our soldiers in the middle of a civil war,” Brown said. Still, Craig was happy doing his job, Brown said. Family and friends said Craig, who had been in Iraq for about six months, wanted to be a state trooper and had planned to go to college. The governor has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff until Craig’s burial. Craig was the 38th military member with Connecticut ties to die since the war began in 2002. Craig lived with his 22-year-old brother, Jonathan. Craig and his five siblings were close to their mother, a nurse’s aide at the Hospital of St. Raphael. Jonathan Craig’s eyes welled up with tears as he recalled his brother’s last visit with his daughter. “The last words he said to me in the living room is take care of my daughter as if you were a father to her until I come back,” Jonathan Craig said.

From The Day (New London, CT) on March 16, 2008

A SON’S DREAM, A MOTHER’S PAIN
Andre Craig Jr. Followed His Heart And Left A Legacy Of Love

Joyce Craig opens her well-thumbed Bible, unfolds a worn and tear-stained letter, and reads: “Hi, Mom. I’m glad to hear that you are still focused on your ministry. You are truly my inspiration. …’” She pauses, closes her eyes, tries to stop her tears. Even her grandchildren, restive in their parents’ arms, grow still. After a long silence, she resumes: “I want to say thank you for raising me to be a man. You never let me quit, and you never let me settle for less. I’m glad you accept my dream. And I’m also happy to finally say, “I made my mother proud.”’ She folds the letter back between the pages. “That’s what he wanted to do,” she said. “He wanted to make his mother proud.” Army Specialist Andre Craig Jr. was just two weeks away from his 24th birthday when he left his mother’s house on New Haven’s Rosette Street for the last time in June 2007. On leave from duty in Baghdad, he had come home in May to see his family and to meet his daughter, Taylor Craig, who was born while he was in Iraq. He had grown up here and on Carmel Street, two of New Haven’s tougher neighborhoods, with his mother, brothers, and sisters, and he had shunned the shoals of crime and drugs to chase his dream. “It was always his dream to go into the Army,” Joyce Craig said, “to fight for the people. And I asked him, I said, ‘Why the Army?’ He said, ‘Ma, it’s my dream.” “He wanted to go into the Army for college to get money for college. and he wanted his family to live and have better than what they had. … He didn’t want us to struggle to pay bills.” Knowing well her son’s determination, she gave him permission to go. Her middle child, the one they called Dre, whom the others called the Momma’s Boy, went off to war. He left behind two older sisters, Valencia Cook, 31, and Debra Russell, 29, and three brothers, Michael Cook, 26, Jonathan Craig, 22, and Matthew Craig, 20. He also had a half-brother and half-sister, 27-year-old Andre Brown and Nashimma Williams, 29. His sister, Debra, muses about the special bond Andre had with their mother. “Every parent has … a child they have a closer bond to. My sister and I were more independent, and Michael was more independent, whereas Andre … he was joined to my mom’s hip a lot.” “He was a momma’s boy,” agrees his other sister, Valencia. They laugh to remember how, when the sons and son-in-law Julian Russell went bowling last May, their mother insisted she go along. “Dre said, ‘Ma, there ain’t no girls going.’ I said, ‘I don’t care, I’m going with you. … I’m gonna go, and I’m gonna kick you all butts.” The night got wild when her sons began stacking up the shot glasses and bowling two balls at a time down the same lane. “So, I really had to take them out of the place because they were cutting up,” Joyce Craig said. “And they walked outside, busting out laughing. And I said, ‘That’s not funny because you were disrespectful.’” Russell said that when Andre came home, they decided they weren’t going to let anything spoil their fun. “Life’s too short,” he said. “You never know.” Certainly, Andre had had his eyes opened. He wrote to his mother, telling her of the horrors visited on the Iraqis. “I’m glad that I’m down here and I can help them,” he wrote. “All I ask for you to ask the church to do is to pray for God’s mercy on these people.” And when he came home, it was as if the sun itself had broken through the clouds. “He came home, and he just showed everybody how much he loved us,” Julian Russell said. “He came home and did everything for everybody. Cooked, cleaned. He came to show love. “The funny thing is you wondered where all his love came from. You wondered how this man, that I’m older than, that I can look up to him. Because he chose to go where I didn’t want to go. I joined in 2000, and, believe me, if I’d known I was going to go to Iraq in 2004, I wouldn’t have joined. He was a braver man than I will ever be.” Debra Russell added, “When my husband was in Iraq, my brother took care of me. I was pregnant with my daughter, and … Andre would take my car, pick me up, and bring me to my doctor’s appointment, so much so that in the beginning, before they knew my husband was in Iraq, they thought he was my husband.” “He was the first person to see my daughter walk,” Julian said. “He was the first person to be there and encourage her and to give her a nickname. He loved my daughter a lot.” And he was smitten, they say, when he learned he had a daughter of his own. “He had wanted a child to leave behind in case something happened,” Joyce Craig said. But he had had no children with his wife, Shawntia Craig, who could not be reached to comment for this story. So, when Joyce Craig told Andre that a former girlfriend had had a child by him, he asked his mother to go see the baby. “When I walked in the house, the baby was sitting in a chair,” Joyce Craig said. “And I said, ‘Oh, my God! It looked like I had Andre all over again. It was like Andre was in that chair.” Soon, the whole family was spoiling Taylor, especially when Andre came home on leave. “And when we went to court to get her name changed to his last name,” Joyce Craig said, “the judge said, ‘Do you want to do a DNA test?’ And Dre said, ‘No, because I know that this is my child.’ That was the day before he left to go back to Iraq.” Andre had always loved children. “He would leave the house at 8 in the morning; he wouldn’t come back till dark time. He’d play basketball all day with my son. He would play ball in the street with the kids,” Valencia Cook said. “And that’s how he ended up having a close relationship with the children on this street, and that’s how they ended up naming the corner of Wilson and Rosette Street after him.” After Andre’s death, Joyce Craig said, she learned that “there were times when some parents would have troubles with their kids, and they’d call Andre, and Andre would go and talk to them. …” “And I know that Andre wanted to leave a legacy to let people know that just because you live in the ‘hood doesn’t mean that you can’t fulfill your dream and be successful.” She remembers that whenever she would ask Andre about Iraq, he would assure her, “Ma, I love my job.” And yet, when it was time for him to return, “we all sat in here, and we had a prayer, and he broke down and cried,” she said. “He cried so hard as if he knew that one day he might not come back.” July 25, 2007, the day Andre Craig died, was one week after his 24th birthday. It was also the day of Valencia Cook’s baby shower, the day — three hours before the shower — her water broke. “He called me at the house,” she said. “And she said, ‘My water broke,’ and he said, ‘I told you were gonna have that baby ‘round my birthday.’ And the next day, we got the call. … I was in labor when he passed away.” And so, Valencia Cook named her baby Andre. Joyce Craig still struggles to make sense of it all. “He was just willing to die … for his country, for his family, for his friends. I still cannot get the grips of that,” she said. “I’ll wake up in the morning. I’ll say, ‘Hi, Andre. I love you. I miss you. I wish that I could see you.’ … I was angry at him because he went into the Army and he got killed. And I was angry because I never did think I was going to lose my Dre. … “But then, when Dre got killed, I had to go and shut myself in because I knew I couldn’t be around nobody. Because I knew that I wouldn’t have been a very nice person because I was angry at Bush; I was angry at the Army. I was angry at Dre. So, to keep myself, I had to go shut myself in and pray and read my Bible. … “He didn’t die on the street behind drugs, you know? He died with a purpose, and he left a legacy. ‘This was my purpose, to be successful. And this was my legacy, to let other kids know that just because you’re poor or you live in a bad neighborhood, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful.’ … “So constantly thinking on that helps me more … and my anger at him is not like it used to be. I’ll tell him, I’ll sit and say, I’m proud of you, and you are my hero.’ “Just want to say to other children, if it’s not your dream, and it’s not really in your bones, don’t do it. … Now is not the time to do it, because so many of our children are dying in this war.”

Memorialized at the corner of Wilson Street and Rosette Street in New Haven, Connecticut.

Photos by Jeff DeWitt

From Legacy.com

“To Andre Craig’s Family: I would like to send you my deepest condolences for the loss of Andre. There are no words that can express the pain and sorrow you must feel. But know in your heart that Andre is a HERO. Not only once, but three times a HERO. The first time Andre became a HERO was when he took that giant step and joined the Army. Not only did he join, but he joined during wartime, knowing full well that he would be going into combat. Very few people in this world have the courage to step up to the plate and do what Andre did. As a citizen of the great United States, I, along with many others, appreciate the sacrifice and commitment Andre made to protect and safeguard our way of life. This alone showed that Andre was a cut above the rest and a true HERO. Second, Andre signed up to be an infantryman. Not any infantryman, but a member of the light infantry. As we all know, there are many different jobs in the Army. Many of these jobs are less dangerous than others, and soldiers are exposed to far less risk and danger depending on the job they choose. Those who choose to join the infantry are truly among the heroic few. This is even more true for those brave young men who volunteer to go into harm’s way as light infantrymen. These are the soldiers who commit their very being to stopping tyranny at its door. They not only volunteer, but they willingly take on the toughest and hardest job there is. Andre did this for us, making the ultimate sacrifice for us, the citizens of the United States. He did the job most of us are afraid to even think about. Andre is twice the HERO of any soldier. Lastly, Andre will forever be a HERO to me, my family, and my son. You see, Andre and my son, Private First Class Christopher Johnson, were in the same unit together, B/2/16. They were in different platoons, but Chris knew Andre and was his friend. I talked with Chris briefly, and he is very saddened by the loss of Andre. They manned the same fighting positions, patrolled the same roads, performed the same duties, and worked together as members of a team. They shared their sweat, blood, and tears for each other, as well as for the other members of their company. Andre gave his life protecting my son, and for that, I am deeply grateful. Andre’s selfless service, dedication, and sacrifice will forever be remembered. To Andre: Rest in peace, my friend. Know that your sacrifice did make a difference. You helped protect my son. Know that I am forever in your debt. You are three times a HERO.

— Stephen Johnson

Specialist Craig is buried in Connecticut State Veterans Cemetery, 317 Bow Lane, Middletown, Connecticut; Section 62A, Site 3.

Photo by Jeff DeWitt.

SERGEANT DAVID JOHN COULLARD; MARINE CORPS RESERVES

DOB/DOD: January 16, 1973 (Hartford, CT) – August 1, 2005; 32 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Wickham Road; Glastonbury
ENLISTMENT: 1997
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 8541; Scout-Sniper

UNIT: Headquarters & Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division; Plainville, Connecticut

FAMILY: Born to Anita Coullard-Dziedzic (1955-). Stepfather, Greg C. (1944-). One stepbrother, Daniel Dziedzic (1976-). One stepsister, Jacqueline J. Dziedzic (1985-).

DECORATIONS: Received the Purple Heart Medal with device, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal with two devices, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with device, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Expeditionary), Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with two devices, Navy Arctic Service Ribbon, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with ‘X’ device, ‘M’ device and the 2 devices, Rifle Expert, and Pistol Expert Badge.

CIRCUMSTANCES:One of six Marines killed in Hadithah, Iraq, when insurgents ambushed his unit. Others killed in the same attack:

Marine Sergeant Nathaniel S. Rock; Toronto, Ohio
Marine Corporal Jeffrey A. Boskovitch; North Royalton, Ohio
Marine Lance Corporal Roger D. Castleberry, Jr.; Austin, Texas
Marine Lance Corporal Daniel N. Deyarmin, Jr.; Tallmadge, Ohio
Marine Lance Corporal Brian P. Montgomery; Willougby, Ohio

Glastonbury High School; Class of 1992

Photo two above from CTHM (Connecticut Trees of Honor Memorial). Photo, above from FindAGrave.com and contributor ER.
From Marines.TogetherWeServed.com

From FallenHeroesMemorial.com

“To Dave’s Mom and family: It has taken me a long time to write something to you about Dave, and for that I am sorry. I could not verbalize my feelings and felt sure that you probably had enough people telling you that they are sorry about your loss. I know that the feeling will never go away; it is always there. Your son was a great Marine and a close friend. We laughed and cursed with each other during our time in the service. As a parent now, I can only wish that my child has as big a heart as your son did. I was told that when you get the chills thinking about a lost loved one, it is proof that they are still with you. EVERY time I think about Dave, I get the chills, and it consoles me to know that we have not lost him completely but are only temporarily separated. Dave was and still is a very special man, and I know for sure that he looked up to his mom for guidance and strength. Be strong together and use your son’s bright light to guide you through the darkest of days. Respectfully Submitted,”

— JS

From The Hartford Courant on August 7, 2005

Sergeant David J. Coullard, U.S. Marine Corps, 32, of Wickham Road, Glastonbury, son of Anita Coullard-Dziedzic, was killed in Iraq on Monday (August 1, 2005). Born in Hartford, he lived in Glastonbury most of his life. He was a graduate of Glastonbury High School and worked for the Plumbing and Heating Union, Local 777 Union, as a heating and air conditioning specialist for most of his working life. Besides his mother, Anita, and her husband, Greg Dziedzic of East Hartford, he leaves his step-brother, Daniel, and his wife, Mandy Dziedzic of Bloomfield; his step-sister, Jacqueline Dziedzic of Norfolk; his aunts and uncles, Joanne and Phillip Coach of Manchester, and Gregg and Donna Currier of Norfolk; a great aunt, Priscilla Feeser of Gloucester, MA; eight cousins, Shawna, Janessa, Brian, Danielle, Jordan, Robin, Greg, and Ellen; and two second cousins, Demetris and Caleb. David loved to hunt and do off-roading. An ecumenical service will be held on Thursday, August 11, at 10 a.m. in St. Paul’s Church, 2183 Main St., Glastonbury. Burial will follow immediately in the Veterans Section of Neipsic Cemetery. David will lay in State in St. Paul’s Church, where his family will receive friends and relatives on Wednesday, August 10, from 6-9 p.m. The Glastonbury Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Please visit http://www.mem.com for an everlasting memorial tribute.

From The Hartford Courant on August 2, 2006
By Peter Marieka

MARINE SERGEANT REMEMBERED BY PLANTING OF CEREMONIAL ARBOR AS THE TREE GROWS

GLASTONBURY — Whenever Anita Coullard-Dziedzic misses her son, she just presses a button and listens to

one of the many taped messages Sergeant David J. Coullard sent home from Iraq. “God, how I miss him,” Coullard’s mother said Tuesday, standing next to a memorial tree planted in the Marine’s honor on the grounds of Naubuc Elementary School. “This is powerful,” she said in the shadow of the beech tree. “This tops everything. The amount of support I’ve received from the community over the past year has been tremendous.” Coullard-Dziedzic was joined at the ceremony on the east side of the school by her husband, Greg Dziedzic, family, town, and school officials, along with Marines from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines of Plainville. A plaque in front of the tree reads: “In loving memory of Sergeant David J. Coullard January 16, 1973 – August 1, 2005. Dedicated by David’s Friends, Family, and the Town of Glastonbury.” Tuesday marked the first anniversary of Coullard’s death. Coullard, 32, was among six Marines — five of them from the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines of Ohio — in a sniper team that was ambushed by insurgents and killed by small arms fire outside Haditha on August 1, 2005. Pat Whelan started the ceremony by playing the Marine Corps hymn on the bagpipes. Karl Butzgy, a close friend of Coullard’s from childhood, served as master of ceremonies and said the tree represented “not only David’s sacrifice but all the men and women who put their lives on the line every day.” The Rev. Richard C. Allen, senior pastor of the Congregational Church in South Glastonbury, who gave the homily at Coullard’s funeral, said the setting for the memorial was perfect. “Elementary school is where we learn our ABCs and run into authority figures for the first time,” he said. “We learn about sharing and caring. … What I have seen over the past year is how much love there is in the community and how it keeps pouring out, and there seems to be no end to it.” During the ceremony, Marines gave Anita Coullard-Dziedzic a small display case with mementos of all Coullard’s Marine accomplishments, including pistol and sharpshooter ribbons, service medals, and a Purple Heart. Coullard-Dziedzic said the display case would be placed in a prominent location on the “David Wall” in her East Hartford home. “It’s been up and down,” Coullard-Deiedzic said about life without her son over the past year. “It’s acceptable because this is what he wanted and trained and worked to do. But I want him back. I want David back. I know he didn’t die in vain. He did have a purpose. He knew he was doing a good job and helping people. It’s not just the negatives, but the positives that help me understand his death.” Soon after Coullard’s death, a group of his childhood friends led by Army veteran Karl Butzgy began raising money to establish the memorial and set up a scholarship fund in Coullard’s memory. Coullard attended schools in town and was a member of Glastonbury High School’s Class of 1992. “This was our old stomping grounds,” Butzgy said after the ceremony. “This is where we met and grew up together. We didn’t want to do a stone or something. We wanted something that was living and growing like David would be living and growing if he was still here.” “It’s important for students to see the tree and the plaque and see the sacrifices people from Glastonbury and prior classmates made,” he added. Superintendent of Schools Alan Bookman worked with Butzgy to find the perfect location for the memorial tree and said it would be worked into the school’s observances of Veterans Day and Memorial Day. “It really is an honor for our school system to recognize someone who has given all for the country,” said Bookman, who remembered Coullard while serving as principal of Glastonbury High. “I think it will bring home what those days are all about.”

Memorialized on Bridge #01697, Route 94, Glastonbury, Connecticut.

Photo by Jeff DeWitt.

Sergeant Coullard is buried in Neipsic Cemetery, 1341 Neipsic Road, Glastonbury, Connecticut; Veterans Section, Plot 357.

Photo by Jeff DeWitt.

CORPORAL CHRISTIAN SCOTT COTNER; MARINE CORPS

DOB/DOD: November 27, 1987 (Waterbury, CT) – May 30, 2008; 20 years old
MARITAL STATUS:Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Crescent Street; Waterbury
ENLISTMENT: August 7, 2006
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 2531; Field Radio Operator
UNIT: Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, Wing Support Group-37, 1st Marine Air Wing Forward); Okinawa

FAMILY: Born to Graham S. (1956-) and Karen Christensen Cotner (1958-). One brother, Eric W. (1986-).

CIRCUMSTANCES: Died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Wilby High School (Waterbury, CT); Class of 2006

The only yearbook photo the school could find was this one:

Photo contributed by Marci Hinton, Library/Media Coordinator, Wilby High School.
Photo contributed by CTHM (Connecticut Trees of Honor Memorial).

From The Hartford Courant June 4, 2008

Corporal Christian Scott Cotner, age 20, died Friday (May 30, 2008), in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, while serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Corporal Cotner was born November 27, 1987, in Waterbury, the son of Graham and Karen (Christensen) Cotner of Waterbury. He was a graduate of Kingsbury Grammar School, North End Middle School, and Wilby High School. Upon graduation, Mr. Cotner joined the United States Marines Corps and has recently been serving as a Corporal in the Marines Wing Support Squadron #172, Group #17, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing III, Marine Expeditionary Force headquartered in Okinawa, Japan. He was a member of the Boys Scouts of America, Wilby High School, and ROTC, and was a member of the First Congregational Church of Waterbury. He had a passion for computers and electronic gaming, and enjoyed building and flying remote control airplanes, and was a member of the Nutmeg Flyers. Besides his parents, Christian is survived by a brother, Eric Cotner of Waterbury; his maternal grandparents, June Christensen of Waterbury and Carl L. Christensen of Lyme; his paternal grandparents, Billy and Gloria Cotner of Waterbury; his aunt Wendy Christensen of Florida, his uncle Eric Christensen and his wife Susan of Shelton, his aunt Cathy Crouse and her husband Ralph of Wolcott, cousins Stewart and David Crouse, Victoria Jelenik and Julie Christensen as well many close friends “The Crew.” A graveside service with full military honors will be held Saturday, June 7, at 10 a.m. at Riverside Cemetery, 496 Riverside Street in Waterbury, and a Memorial Service will be held Saturday, June 7, at 1 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Waterbury, 222 W. Main Street. Family and friends who plan on attending the graveside service are asked to meet directly at Riverside Cemetery and stage outside the cemetery gate until the family arrives. At the family’s request, dress for the 1 p.m. memorial service should be “Tropical Casual” due to a very warm sanctuary. The Casey-O’Donnell Family Funeral Home, 1581 E. Main St Waterbury, has been entrusted to assist the family and the United States Armed Forces with funeral arrangements. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the First Congregational Church of Waterbury (222 W. Main Street, Waterbury, CT 06702) for a scholarship fund in memory of Christian Scott Cotner.

From The Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) on June 8, 2008

FAMILY OF MARINE DISPUTES SUICIDE

WATERBURY — A Connecticut couple is disputing the official Marine Corps conclusion that their son’s death in Iraq was a suicide. A report obtained by the Republican-American newspaper shows that Corporal Christian Scott Cotner of Waterbury died of a single, self-inflicted gunshot round from his service rifle. Karen Cotner and her husband, Graham Cotner, say they do not accept the Marines’ findings because everyone who knew their son also does not agree. Karen Cotner says her son had plans to visit home later in 2008 and planned a casino trip with his mother. An officer wrote in the report that the Marines may never know why Cotner took his own life in May 2008, two months after arriving in Iraq.

From The Press-Enterprise (Bloomsburg, PA) December 20, 2008

Christian S. Cotner’s brother, Eric, said he and his brother grew up on different sides of issues. I like the Red Sox. He liked the Yankees. I went to college. He wanted to go in the Marines. I remember the day he said he wanted to be a Marine. Our whole family worried about what would happen to him. But when he graduated, I immediately realized he wanted to be the best. I will always love him and keep him close to my heart.” Cotner, 20, of Waterbury, Connecticut, died May 30 from a non-hostile incident in Al Anbar Province. He was a 2006 high school graduate and was assigned to Okinawa, Japan. “I always remember him as being funny. He could always make me laugh. He was just a sweetheart,” said Amy Percy, a friend. Cotner didn’t like car trips but lit up at the sight of steam engines. He loved to play video games and recently sent his friends several hand-held video games from Iraq. He was fearless of heights, loved to bungee jump, ride roller coasters, mess with computers, and fly remote-controlled airplanes. He also is survived by his parents, Karen and Graham. — By the Associated Press

From The Hartford Courant June 9, 2008
By Rev Dr. Donna Schaper

A CHILD YOU HAVE KNOWN IS NOT A NUMBER

My congregation puts up the number of people killed in the Iraq war on our front sign and on our church’s website. We update the numbers weekly. They include the Iraqi dead and the American dead. Often, there is a bit of controversy about our numbers. They are either too big or too small. We aren’t completely sure that our numbers or our fact checkers are right. We get the numbers from two sources: U.S. military dead and wounded are taken from the “U.S. Casualties in Iraq” page of the AntiWar.com website and reflect the official U.S. military announcement of casualties; Iraqi civilian deaths are found at IraqBodyCount.org — this is the more controversial listing, as estimates vary not by tens and hundreds, but by thousands and hundreds of thousands. A man named Peter Gaitens does this work for us. He has a name. As of June 3, our front sign held the following numbers: U.S. soldiers killed — 4,087; U.S. soldiers wounded — 30,333; Iraqi civilians dead — 91,889. We can’t list all the names because there are too many, so we just list the numbers. Last week, our website (www judson.org) added another number but not a name, that of Christian Cotner. He is the 40th military member with ties to Connecticut who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan since U.S. operations began in those countries in 2003 and 2002, respectively. Two civilians from the state have also died. Cotner graduated from high school in Waterbury and was a member of the First Congregational Church there. I knew Christian Cotner as a child. He attended the same UCC and Unitarian summer camp as my children did, year after year, a magical place called Star Island, seven miles out to sea from Portsmouth, N.H. Year after year, he batted in the kid’s softball game, slid down the slide that faced the ocean, fought to ring the bell for dinner, and cross-dressed on Thursday nights when all the girls became guys, and the guys became girls. I know it’s unusual for a Christian youth camp. But you should see the pictures: They are quite splendid. Christian is now dead. He is not a number to me. And he is the first person with a name and a past who I know, by name, who has died. Week after week, those numbers on the front of the church have been lifeless in more ways than one. They didn’t have baseball bats or slides. They didn’t have stories you could tell about them. Maybe their lifelessness implied, the war wasn’t really happening and, if it was, it was just a little thing. A non-thing. An impersonal thing. A thing without a name. I know Christian well enough to know that he believed in this war. He was a Marine. Christians by faith, like him and like me, can disagree about war. We have for centuries. I am too sad about his death to use it to argue against the war. I’ve already done that every which way I know how — and am hoarse with hopelessness about anyone listening. The country seems to be with me on this matter. We know there is a war going on, but we are pretty sure it’s not real. My point is to say that I was listening to Christian Cotner’s life. I knew it as a heartbeat. And now I know it as a silence. One that I could never have imagined on those summer evenings when the children all made too much noise and told stories about who was teasing who and why and what we parents, lolling in our porchside rocking chairs, were supposed to do about it. Yes, our children quarreled. No, we were not able to “fix” things. Still, in all, you just can’t look at a child growing up and, year after year, say, “My, how you have grown,” and imagine that the child could become a war casualty. No one has the heart for that. You don’t let a child into your life and that of your children and then not protect the heart. If war is real, children are not safe. You don’t mention things like this on a summer evening after the lobster fest and before the hymn sing. You have to act like war is unreal in order to tell a child, “My, how you’ve grown since last year.” I know how much Christian’s family loved him. I am just now letting in the fact of his silence; later, I will find some useless words to pen to his family and his congregation. For now, his name has broken through the numbers.

Honored on the City of Waterbury (CT) Global War On Terrorism Memorial

Photo by Jeff DeWitt.

From CaseyFunerals.com

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28 Karen and Graham. The both of you are very dear to my heart, and I love each of you. You took me into your home in a time of need that I had, and I can trust both of you moreso than most people in my life. I am thankful to have been able to call Christian a friend, but not only a friend, but a confidant I can trust as well a person that would kick my butt when it needed to be, and a brother in all things. I understand your sorrow and pain, and I am here for you in ANY capacity that I can fill. Anything. Do not hesitate to ask. Need your grass cut? I will be there. Anything. Eric, you are my closest friend, and I will always be a shoulder to lean on for you. Your brother loves you unconditionally. He wants you to excel, to be the best you can ever be. He has inspired me to be more than I let myself believe I can be. I got your back in all things, bro. Remember that. To all of you, remember that we cannot understand all things, and we may not know the reasons why things like this happen, but we can be assured that nothing is beyond God’s sovereignty. He has something here for us all to learn by. I know, for one, the inspiration of excellence that Christian has given to us all will make us better people. You have my deepest condolences and my love and prayers. I am here for you for anything.

— Roger Lee J. Cormier

From Legacy.com

I served with Corporal Cotner in Iraq. He was Comm, and I was a Cook, so I saw him every day over the time I was with MWSS 172. I came to know Cotner as a hell of a Marine and an even better man. I find myself thinking about him and his family around the holidays. I guess I just want to say to his family that they had an outstanding Marine but, even more important, a son that they should be PROUD of. Semper Fi Brother, gone be NEVER forgotten.

— Seth Minkler

Corporal Cotner is buried in Riverside Cemetery, 496 Riverside St., Waterbury, Connecticut; Section I, Lot 9.

Photo by Jeff DeWitt.

MASTER SERGEANT JOHN ALLAN CHAPMAN; AIR FORCE

DOB/DOD: July 14, 1965 (Springfield, MA) – March 4, 2002; 36 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Valerie A. Nessel (1968-) on August 22, 1992, in Windber, Pennsylvania.
CHILDREN: Two daughters, Madison (1996-) and Brianna (1998-).
LOCAL ADDRESS: Andover Road; Windsor Locks
ENLISTMENT: September 27, 1985.
AIR FORCE SPECIALTY CODE: 1C2X1 – Combat Control
UNIT: 24th Special Tactics Squadron; Pope Air Force Base

FAMILY: Born to Eugene C. [USAF veteran] (1938-2004) and Teresa Marie Chapman Giaccone [remarried in 1994] (1941-). One brother, Kevin C. Chapman (1962-). Two sisters, Lori J. Chapman Longfritz (1966-) and Tammy Chapman Klein (1967-).

DECORATIONS: Awarded the Medal of Honor, Purple Heart Medal, Air Force Commendation with device, Joint Service Achievement Medal with device, Air Force Achievement Medal with device, Air Force Combat Action Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with device for a second award and ‘V’ for Valor, Air Force Good Conduct Medal with 4 devices, National Defense Service Medal with device, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with device, Global War on Terror Medal (Expeditionary), Global War on Terror Medal (Service), Humanitarian Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Air Force Overseas Ribbon (Long), Air Force Longevity Award with three devices, Air Force NCO Professional Military Education Graduate Ribbon, Small Arms Expert Marksman Ribbon with device, Air Force Training Medal, Scuba Diver badge, and Parachutist Badge (Master).

CIRCUMSTANCES: Killed in Action near Gardez, Afghanistan, while engaged with the enemy while deployed on a mission with a SEAL team. His Navy SEAL team leader credits Sergeant Chapman unequivocally with saving the lives of the entire rescue team. He was awarded the Air Force Cross for his actions that day, which ultimately was upgraded to a Medal of Honor 16 years after the initial incident.

OTHER: John’s sister co-wrote a book, Alone at Dawn: Medal of Honor Recipient John Chapman and the Untold Story of the World’s Deadliest Special Operations Force by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz, available on Amazon. 2026 update: A movie based on the book starring Adam Driver and Anne Hathaway is being directed by Ron Howard.

Windsor Locks High School; Class of 1983

Windsor Locks High School Soccer Team

Windsor Locks High School Swim Team

Photo courtesy of the Windsor Locks Hall of Fame
Photo courtesy of the Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION

AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING: Global War on Terror
BRANCH OF SERVICE: Air Force
UNIT: 24th Special Tactics Squadron
AGE ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT: 36

CITATION:

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman, United States Air Force, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. Technical Sergeant Chapman distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism as an Air Force Special Tactics Combat Controller of the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, attached to a Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Team conducting reconnaissance operations in Takur Ghar, Afghanistan, on 4 March 2002. During insertion, the team’s helicopter was ambushed, causing a teammate to fall into an entrenched group of enemy combatants below. Sergeant Chapman and the team voluntarily reinserted onto the snow-capped mountain into the heart of a known enemy stronghold to rescue one of their own. Without regard for his own safety, Sergeant Chapman immediately engaged, moving in the direction of the closest enemy position despite coming under heavy fire from multiple directions. He fearlessly charged an enemy bunker, up a steep incline in thigh-deep snow and into hostile fire, directly engaging the enemy. Upon reaching the bunker, Sergeant Chapman assaulted and cleared the position, killing all enemy occupants. With complete disregard for his own life, Sergeant Chapman deliberately moved from cover only 12 meters from the enemy and exposed himself once again to attack a second bunker, from which an emplaced machine gun was firing on his team. During this assault from an exposed position directly in the line of intense fire, Sergeant Chapman was struck and injured by enemy fire. Despite severe, mortal wounds, he continued to fight relentlessly, sustaining a violent engagement with multiple enemy personnel before making the ultimate sacrifice. By his heroic actions and extraordinary valor, sacrificing his life for the lives of his teammates, Technical Sergeant Chapman upheld the highest traditions of military service and reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

Presentation Date and Details: August 22, 2018, in the White House, to his widow, by President Donald Trump.

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, photographer Staff Sergeant Rusty Frank. Photo on this page, left to right, Madison Chapman (daughter), Valerie Nessel (wife), President Trump, Brianna (daughter), and Teresa Chapman Giaccone (Master Sergeant Chapman’s mother). The ceremony took place on August 22, 2018 – what would have been the Chapmans’ 26th wedding anniversary.

John Chapman’s excellence in diving at Windsor Locks High School earned him winning spots in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conferences in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983 State Championships, winning the Class S event in 1982 and 1983 and placing second in the State Open in 1983. After high school, John attended the University of Connecticut and was on the diving team for one year before changing direction and entering the United States Air Force. John Chapman entered the Air Force in September 1985. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, he was sent to Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi, in January 1986 for training as an Information Systems Operator. Upon completion of training in March 1986, he was assigned to the 1987th Information Systems Squadron, Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado, from February 1986 to June 1989. He then cross-trained into the Combat Control career field and served with the 1721st Combat Control Squadron at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, from August 1990 to November 1992. His next assignment was as a Special Tactics Team Member with the 320th Special Tactics Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, from November 1992 to October 1995. His final assignment was with the 24th Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Air Force Base.

On 10 January 2003, the Secretary of the USAF, James G. Roche, posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross to Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman. He was the first Air Force Combat Controller to be awarded the Air Force Cross [later upgraded].

New technology that allowed a deeper analysis of video of the battle suggested Chapman regained consciousness and resumed fighting Al-Qaeda members who were coming toward him from three directions. Chapman may have crawled into a bunker, shot and killed an enemy charging at him, and then killed another enemy fighter in hand-to-hand combat. (military.com)

While the Air Force pushed for Chapman to be recognized, Naval Special Warfare Command allegedly attempted to block Chapman’s Medal of Honor as it would result in an admission that Chapman had been left behind. When it became apparent that Chapman’s Medal of Honor could not be blocked, it was further alleged that the Navy put the commander of the operation, Britt K. Slabinski, up for the same award, which he received in May 2018. In March 2018, Chapman’s family was notified that his Air Force Cross was to be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. (Newsweek, Task & Purpose, military.com)

Excerpts from an Air Force Times article on August 22, 2018

[Valerie] Nessel said that about two or three years ago when the military was reviewing several cases of valor to see if they merited higher awards, she found out that the technology had advanced to the point that a closer, frame-by-frame analysis of the video of an MQ-1 Predator flying above the battlefield was possible. That video allowed a closer analysis of Chapman’s actions at Takur Ghar and was a key piece of evidence in the Air Force’s effort to upgrade his Air Force Cross to a Medal of Honor.

“I tell them that he was such a genuine, good-hearted person,” Nessel said. “He lived his life — team before self — he lived his life that whole way. The girls and I meant everything to him. When he was home, he was home. He was 110 percent present as a father and as a husband. He was very humble, very kind, very soft-spoken. An amazing man who would be a little embarrassed having this bestowed upon him.”

From the Hartford Courant March 8, 2002

BEST FRIEND, AMERICAN HERO

WINDSOR LOCKS – They had grown up together, classmates since kindergarten and soccer mates from the time John Chapman’s dad rolled out balls for a youth program. And, now, here they were. Freshmen starting for the legendary coach at Windsor Locks [High School] and trying to make sense of him, trying to make sense of it all

John Chapman was the center midfielder.

Mike Toce was the sweeper back.

The year was 1979.

The coach was from a different time. He was in 1969.

“We used to joke,” Toce said Thursday, “that Sullivan was preparing us for war.”

When he retired in 1999, Dan Sullivan was the last three-sport high school coach in Connecticut. He was a soccer coach. He was a basketball coach. He was a baseball coach. He coached for 39 years, winning 1,255 games and, in soccer alone, six state titles.

He was tough, and he never tried to deny it. When Sullivan took the job in 190 at Windsor Locks, he incorporated marching and military drills into his classes. He had been an Army infantry medic, and although the 309th hadn’t seen action, Sullivan was sure some of his students would one day. The Vietnam War proved him right.

“By the time we graduated in 1983, there weren’t many coaches like him anymore,” Toce said. “Playing for Sullivan was brutal at times. He expected a lot of you. On the field, he was tough. Off the field, he was wonderful. You don’t see it when you’re 16, but the things I learned – the training, discipline, and work ethic – I’ve incorporated into my life over the years.

“I don’t want to make a careless parallel, but I think for John, in a way, it was the start of special forces.”

Sullivan watched two jets slam into the World Trade Center on September 11, and he felt white heat shoot through his face and down to his soul. There were dead Connecticut athletes buried in the rubble, among them one of the great lacrosse players in college history and a former Yale football player. The loss of life was incalculable.

“I’ve never been so hurt and mad in my life,” Sullivan said. “War is falling in a battlefield, but innocent kids, mothers, and dads being mowed down? It still upsets me every time I think about it. I was ready to go to Afghanistan myself. These vets, 90 years old, would go right now if they were called.

“I’m a very patriotic man. This is why I’m so proud of John.”

This is why Sullivan walked out to the middle of the soccer field at Windsor Locks the other day and found a patch of earth where he knew Chapman once played for him. This is why, at that moment, tears filled the eyes of the tough old coach.

“All of a sudden, it hit me,” Sullivan said. “All I could think about were his wife and his two gorgeous little girls. It broke my heart.”

“The tough man’s voice began to crack. His only remedy is to recover with a barrage of praise.

“He was such a class act,” Sullivan said. “He was courageous. He was fearless on the soccer field. And you should have seen him up on that diving board. He’d fly through the air, doing all those tricks. You’d never catch me doing that.

“He was loyal. He was dedicated. He was well-liked by everyone. He’d help me teach skills. John had something special.”

“Windsor Locks is the town where aircraft roar to safe Bradley [Airport] landings and little boys grow up to be American heroes. In 1965, Windsor Locks won the Little League World Series in Williamsport. On Monday, half a world away, John Chapman became an American hero in the war on terrorism. A helicopter landing became a controlled crash, and six men fell to the hellfire of al Qaeda and Taliban machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

“I was scanning MSNBC on the Internet when I saw John A. Chapman on the list of deceased,” Toce said. “I knew he was Air Force Special Operations, but it’s not an uncommon name, and I wasn’t sure about the A.”

Odd about a middle initial, isn’t it? You can know a guy since kindergarten and not remember it. His heart pounding, Toce called his wife at home to look it up in his 1983 yearbook.

“His middle name,” Toce said, “is Allan.”

Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman was 36.

“John was a great guy,” said David Allen.

Allen wanted to tell everyone that and so much more the other day but was too choked up to speak during a memorial at the high school. David’s father, Tom, used to be Chapman’s diving coach. A Windsor Locks record Chapman set as a junior, in fact, stands 20 years later.

“My dad has been working to keep what happened off his mind,” said David, 16. “He has taken it hard.”

Tom Allen thought so much of the young Chapman that he gave his first son the middle name John.

Four years later, he asked Chapman to be David’s godfather.

“The day of the memorial at school, we said the Pledge of Allegiance in John’s honor,” his godson said.

The words never were so important to a town.

Toce and a handful of friends will attend Chapman’s funeral in his wife’s Pennsylvania hometown on Tuesday. When the tears have been shed and the sorrow spent, surely the time will come to regale those who had not seen him play. The Chapmans are a soccer family. Kevin and Tammy were strong players. Lori was phenomenal, Toce said, better than most of the boys. Kevin had a driver’s license and would take John and Toce, three years his junior, all over the state to officiate games. In high school, John led Windsor Locks to the old Central Valley League title. Those were the days when Windsor Locks would battle Glastonbury and all the big state powerhouses.

Gene Chapman, who had preceded his son in the Air Force, played a vital role in building youth soccer in Windsor Locks. Toce calls John’s father his source of athletic inspiration. Growing up, he called John something simpler. He called him his best friend.

“I was the captain senior year, but John clearly was the best player,” Toce said. “He was one of the best high school soccer players I’ve ever seen.”

Sullivan had wondered why he hadn’t seen more of Chapman over the years. Toce, in fact, hadn’t seen him in 10 years. Isn’t that the way it is for so many of us as we move on in life? Or was it because of the secretive nature of special forces, where not even the immediate family knows all that is happening?

“All I know is I’m kicking myself in the pants for letting ten years pass,” Toce said.

Toce approached the high school about retiring Chapman’s Number 6 jersey. He’d like to get one of the fields named after him and start a scholarship. He called Sullivan, and the tough old coach was thrilled about the idea. He knows John Chapman is a hero. He knows John Chapman is his hero.

From the Hartford Courant on April 2, 2002

HERO’S FAMILY RESPONDS

Words cannot begin to express the gratitude our family feels for everyone who has helped ease our pain and heartache in this most sorrowful time of our lives since Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman was killed in action in Afghanistan.

We are very fortunate that we live in a place that has such caring people. If the rest of the world were as compassionate, there would be no hatred and wars.

Johnny was truly a gift from God, not because he died saving the lives of his comrades, but because of the person he was. As a child, he was a little rascal who loved life and could make light of any situation. He was also tenderhearted and caring. John carried these characteristics through adulthood. Still, we had no idea he had touched so many lives in such a positive way.

We have been hearing from many people who are sharing stories of how he showed acts of kindness or encouragement through the years, beginning when he was a little boy. We shall treasure these letters.

We have no doubt that God has already found a place for him in heaven, but it will be some time before we can accept the fact that Johnny is no longer with us on Earth. People from Windsor Locks and throughout the state overwhelmed us with their contributions to the beautiful memorial service and celebration of Johnny’s life. For this, we are truly grateful to all those who generously gave donations to the memorial trust for our little granddaughters.

The news media were very compassionate and patient with us in our time of sorrow. Everyone went out of their way to be considerate of our feelings.

We would like to ask two things:

First, like Johnny, never be afraid to show your love for others. Enjoy each day with families and friends to the fullest, and don’t be afraid to hug and kiss those who are dear to you.

Second, please pray for all those who have died, for their families, and for those who continue to fight to preserve our freedom.

TERRY AND NICK GIACCONE; Windsor Locks

NOTE: Additional family members of John A. Chapman also signed this letter.

Memorialized at a pavilion near the soccer field at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

Photo courtesy of the Windsor Locks Hall of Fame.

Also memorialized with a plaque at Memorial Hall, 1 South Main Street, Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Photo by Jeff DeWitt.

The ship named in his honor

Photo courtesy of msc.navy.mil

MV [Motor Vessel] Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman (T-AK-323) was a Buffalo Soldier-class container ship. She was one of the Military Sealift Command’s Prepositioning Program. Built in 1978 by Chantier Naval de La Ciotat in La Ciotat, France, she was originally named Merlin. On April 8, 2005, she was renamed for Pope Air Force Base combat controller Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman, a posthumous Medal of Honor recipient.

The Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman (T-AK-323) carried Air Force munitions. She featured climate-controlled cocoons on her weather decks, which protect additional cargo from the marine environment. She was owned and operated by Sealift Incorporated under charter to MSC.

She was scrapped on September 4, 2014, at Alang, India.

Other named events and awards

Air Force Special Tactics 24th Special Operations Wing (24 SOW) hosts the annual “Chapman Challenge,” where competitions for Best Combat Mission Support Personnel, Best Operator, Best Shooter, and Best Overall Team take place, and awards are given to the best of the best.

Also, he is the namesake of the Combat Control Foundation’s Master Sergeant John A. Chapman ‘Service Before Self’ award, which honors his legacy and sacrifice. The award pays tribute to exceptional individuals who exemplify the core values of the Air Force, prioritizing service over personal interests and demonstrating selflessness and dedication in their actions.

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colorado – The U.S. Air Force Academy Class of 2026 hosted Medal of Honor recipient Master Sergeant John Chapman’s family and 24th Special Operations Wing members at their Exemplar Dining-In at Mitchell Hall on September 14.

The sophomore class became the first Academy class to select an enlisted Airman as its Exemplar when it chose U.S. Air Force Medal of Honor recipient Master Sergeant John Chapman. The Class of 2026 Exemplar Committee encountered some resistance with their classmates’ overwhelming desire to name the Academy’s first enlisted Exemplar. The committee members provided documentation that showed Chapman’s “significant contribution to airpower,” and the class’s choice was approved.

“It was a huge sense of pride and accomplishment for our committee’s hard work and the effort to get us there and for our class’s desire to inspire change and standing firm in our belief that Master Sergeant Chapman reflected the values as a class that were important to us,” Mirande said.

Each class chooses an aerospace leader the cadets wish to emulate as their Exemplar. The process begins when the class president selects the Exemplar committee chairperson just a few weeks after the cadets finish Basic Cadet Training and join the Cadet Wing. The Class of 2026 committee announced its selection to the rest of the class in early spring.

Master Sergeant Chapman is buried in Saint Mary Byzantine Catholic Church Cemetery, 4th Street and Cemetery Drive, Windber, Pennsylvania.

Photos from FindAGrave.com. Photo credit for the top photo to DW Dunn and the bottom photo credit to Robert & Sam Hanson.

CORPORAL KEMAPHOOM AHN “CHUCK” CHANAWONGSE; MARINE CORPS

DOB/DOD: May 5, 1980 (Krung Thep, Thailand) – March 23, 2003; 22 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Oswegatchie Road; Waterford
ENLISTMENT: July 6, 1999
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 1833; Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) Crewman

UNIT: Headquarters & Service Company, 2nd Anti-Aircraft Battalion, 2nd Marine Division; Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

FAMILY: Born to Tanit “Tan” Chanawongse (1952-) and Anutarapon Tan Patchem (1951-). Stepfather Paul Patchem (1966-). One brother, Kemapasse Chanawongse (1978-).

DECORATIONS: Awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

CIRCUMSTANCES: Corporal Chanawongse was killed by an enemy round when he was running to retrieve ammunition in a battle to secure a bridge in Nasiriyah, Iraq.

Waterford High School; Class of 1999

Photo contributed by Jill Adams, Head of Adult Services, Waterford Public Library
Photo from MarinesTogetherWeServed.com

From The Hartford Courant on April 17, 2003

By Kim Martineau | Courant Staff Writer

WATERFORD — Tan Patchem woke her husband early last Sunday. Several missing Marines had been found alive in Iraq. Her son, she hoped, was among them. She learned later that Cpl. Kemaphoom “Ahn” Chanawongse was not in the group. By Monday morning, all of the missing Marines from his unit had been confirmed dead — all except Ahn. She was making dinner on Tuesday when a Navy chaplain and two Marines appeared at her door, the same men who had come three weeks earlier to report her son missing. Before they said a word, she knew. The images she had held on to — Chanawongse hiding in an abandoned building or recovering under the watch of a sympathetic Iraqi — were wrong. Her son’s remains had been identified. “I think that the whole time I have hope, I know there’s a chance he might not be coming back, too,” she said Wednesday. “It’s like I prepare myself for the worst.” Chanawongse went missing on March 23 after his amphibious assault vehicle was ambushed near Nasiriyah as the unit tried to take control of a bridge over the Euphrates River. A week later, three of the eight Marines missing from his unit were confirmed dead. As the weeks rolled by and her son’s status remained unchanged, Tan Patchem’s hope grew. Each morning, she flipped on the news for an update on the war. Then, she and her husband, Paul, knelt on cushions in their family room by a statue of Buddha and prayed. Before bed each night, they prayed again. They filled the hours in between looking at photographs and old letters and reading the hundreds of notes that have poured in, expressing support for the man known to his fellow Marines as “Chuckles.” On Wednesday, a steady stream of friends and family filled the house. Steve Cavan arrived in his car, decorated with yellow ribbons. He pointed to a recent photo of Chanawongse taped to the dashboard next to the speedometer. It showed Ahn grinning wildly after a night out with his friends. “We were just living our lives out as kids,” he said. “That’s how I’ll always remember him.” On Wednesday, Tan and Paul Patchem met with Marine Corps officials to make funeral arrangements. The Mae to Waterford. For three days, Buddhist monks will chant prayers for Chanawongse. His cremated remains will then be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. “It is a place for all the brave soldiers, she said. “He is one of them.” Waterford First Selectman Paul Eccard said the town will hold a memorial service after the burial. “Now that we know the news is what we desperately hoped it would not be, we will do everything we can to support the family,” he said. Governor John G. Rowland requested that flags in the state fly at half-staff until after Chanawongse’s memorial service. On April 6, a Sunday, Tan Patchem drove with her niece to Boston to celebrate the Thai New Year at a Buddhist temple. She brought a large portrait of her son in military dress, which was posted prominently, as the monks chanted a special prayer for Chanawongse’s return. “It meant a lot to me,” she said on Monday. “It’s the way we do it in Thailand.” In his last letter home, Chanawongse described the boredom of waiting for the war to begin. He told his parents how he and the other Marines had improvised a game of baseball from a ball of rags and a stick. He complained about the desert dust and how, minutes after taking a shower, he was dirty again. To pass the time, he painted the word “sandstorm” across the side of his amphibious tractor, which the Marines call an Amtrak. Friends remember Chanawongse as an easygoing kid with a bright smile, the “Thai import with the baby face,” as he called himself on his website. A prank that seemed innocuous at the time – bringing a plastic gun to school — landed him a year suspension in ninth grade. They seemed harsh, but Chanawongse was not one to hold a grudge. “He never got mad at no one,” his mother said. “He never complained.” Tan Patchem was surprised when her son enlisted in the Marines in 1998, days after graduating from Waterford High School. He had an artistic side and was proficient in photography, drawing cartoons, and making elaborate stickers out of vinyl. One sticker, a black prisoner of war/missing in action emblem, was so skillfully done that a Vietnam veteran noticed it on Tan’s bumper and asked where he could get one. She asked her son to make a second sticker for the veteran, and he did. In hindsight, she now recognizes the makings of a Marine. With his first paycheck, Chanawongse bought a sword. Later, an archer’s bow. He strung together plastic milk cartons and hung them in the yard to use for target practice. He often packed his dogs, Mo and Snoop, into a canoe and floated down the creek that runs along the back of his house into Long Island Sound. “Why the Marines?” she asked him. “The Marines are the best.” He told her. She reminded him of the training, challenges, and dangers he would face. But he knew what he wanted, and his friends secretly envied him. “I never thought he’d have the courage to go,” said a longtime friend, Troy Bergeson. “But when he came back from boot camp, it’s like he grew up overnight. He was built. He was a lot stronger looking. He was proud of himself and what he was doing.” He was also following a family tradition. His grandfather was a high-ranking officer in the That Air Force, and his uncle, also Thai, was a decorated pilot. His stepfather, Paul Patchem, was a former Navy electrician. His family noticed the change when he became a Marine. “He had a mission,” a relative, Kim Atkinson, said Wednesday. “He had found himself.” The Thai press watched Tan Patchem’s wait for her son to come home closely, dubbing her the “Iron Mom.” Chanawongse moved to the U.S. when he was 9 and has extended family in Thailand. His older brother, Awe, 24, has been studying business there for the last year. When news first hit that Chanawongse was missing, a line of reporters filed into the Patchems’ house. The spotlight waned as the weeks passed. But on Monday, the reporters returned, and it wasn’t hard to read between the lines. The military had more remains that had yet to be identified. Even as the odds that Chanawongse might be recovered alive grew more improbable, Tan Patchem remained hopeful. She took solace in an image that played around the world last week: the statue of Saddam Hussein tumbling to the ground. “It is very good when we see Saddam’s statue come down by his own people,” she said. “That means what we are doing is the right thing.” “He had a short life, but he was happy, and he made the best out of that, and he died with honor and made everybody proud.” She said, “Even though he passed away, he passed away as a hero.”

From The Day (New London, CT) on April 30, 2003

ANGEL, HERO, and IMMIGRANT
A fallen soldier is laid to rest

The picture on The Day’s front page Tuesday said something about loss and the very nature of America itself. The photograph, taken by Day photographer Sean D. Elliot, showed Buddhist monks and Marines by the coffin of Marine Corporal Kemaphoom “Ahn” Chanawongse of Waterford as he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Corporal Chanawongse was a hero and, perhaps, something more. “Ahn” was now an angel. His stepfather, Paul Patchem, said. “I am honored to have him as a son,” he said. Angel and hero, Cpl. Chanawongse was also an immigrant. He came to the United States from Thailand when he was nine years old. America is home to thousands of people who have traveled from the farthest corners of the Earth, all holding different religions and different beliefs. Yet, when an immigrant is ready to take the pledge to become a citizen, he becomes, like Corporal Chanawongse, just as American as anyone descended from the Pilgrims. That the experience is so common says something good about our country. It works because we have a Constitution that knits together people from diverse nationalities and different religions. Perhaps most of all, it works because we have people like Corporal Chanawongse willing to die to defend us and those values that bring us all together, which makes us one people. Donations made in the memory of Corporal Chanawongse would go, in part, toward building a Buddhist temple in Boston. The closest such temple is now in New York City. That would make him happy, his family said. Monday, when Corporal Chanawongse was buried as a hero, Dr. Chuen Phangcham prayed that he be reborn in another life. “May all be free from suffering. May all be happy.” On a day when grief contrasted with the beauty of spring, it was a fitting prayer indeed.

WEBMASTER NOTE: Prior to Ahn Chanawongse’s burial, a Buddhist service was held at a Washington funeral home. A traditional Thai Buddhist ceremony has up to three parts of the funeral service, each lasting about 45 minutes. The three components of any Buddhist funeral ceremony are sharing, the practice of good conduct, and developing a calm mind, or meditation.

From The Day (New London, CT) on June 26, 2003

By Patricia Daddona | Day Staff Writer

WATERFORD CORPORAL WAS KILLED IN FIREFIGHT WHILE HELPING COMRADES

WATERFORD — Knowing her son died a hero in the war in Iraq was not enough for Tan Patchem. She wanted to know how 22-year-old Kemaphoom “Ahn” Chanawongse, who was awarded the Purple Heart, died in combat. About three weeks ago, she found out. A letter from Captain William E. Blanchard, one of Chanawongse’s superiors in the Company A Assault Amphibious Battalion, finally arrived at the Patchem home in Waterford after a month in transit from Iraq. This past Sunday, Tan Patchem, her husband, Paul, and other family members heard the details again firsthand at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, from Blanchard himself. The 22-year-old Marine was not ambushed in Iraq, as initially reported, but died in the midst of battle, helping carve a safe path across a canal bridge to Baghdad for coalition forces, Blanchard said. His words are also recorded on videotape by the Patchems at Camp Lejeune, where Chanawongse first began his military training 3 ½ years ago. Chanawongse and two fellow Marines had been traveling north in one of the many amphibious assault vehicles involved in securing a bridge in Nasiriyah when, on March 23, they came under heavy enemy fire while crossing the Chanawongse’s vehicle, which Marines call an “Amtrak,” became disabled. He safely evacuated his men from the vehicle and tried to get them to safety as he helped get more ammunition to other Marines. Wounded by shrapnel, he was rushed to a medical evacuation vehicle known as a “Med-evac,” which was itself hit by enemy fire, Blanchard said. Learning how Chanawongse’s selfless actions helped accomplish an international military mission has helped his mother and stepfather accept his passing. “He didn’t go there and just die,” Tan Patchem said. “He did something. He used the whole training from 3 ½ years (in the Marines), and he did it. He did it with his heart.” Chanawongse’s personal effects will arrive in the U.S. on Friday, but the Patchems have no idea when they will get them, Paul Patchem said. The items — which fellow Marines said include photos, uniforms, and games — were recovered in the Amtrak that Chanawongse rode from the shores of Camp Lejeune and onto a ship that took him to the Mideast. The family will also eventually receive a “final report” from the Marines on how their son died. Though Tan Patchem thought the trip to Camp Lejeune would be unbearably sad, healing outweighed the grief, she said. Close friends returning from Iraq who are still trying to cope with Chanawongse’s death agreed. Josh Martinez, 22, met Chanawongse, whom the Marines had nicknamed “Chuckles” or “Chuck,” while they were both training on Amtraks on the California shore. He and the irrepressible Chanawongse enjoyed “shopping for clothes, going out to eat, out to the clubs,” Martinez said. After learning of his friend’s death, Martinez dreamt that he talked to Chanawongse over his Amtrak radio. He started yelling because he thought someone was playing a prank, but Chanawongse told him to calm down. “And I said, ‘You’re dead.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, but I’m OK,’” Martinez recalled. “After that, I woke up crying — yelling in my sleep. My Marines were all just looking at me.” Martinez has lost two other close friends since the war started. He said meeting the Patchems, Chanawongse’s friend, Steve Cavan, and other families “is the one thing that helps me the most.” For Sergeant Jeremy Donaldson, 22, that reunion at Camp Lejeune was long overdue. He and his wife, Amber, had become close to Chanawongse and communicated with his family by phone and e-mail over the past three years, he said. In Iraq, Donaldson, a section leader in charge of three other amphibious vehicles, escaped the March 23 firefight, though his vehicle did not. Bereft of his own belongings, he greeted the Patchems. After that, the returning Marines lined up to pay their respects to the family, Amber Donaldson said. The depth of their feelings for Chanawongse, Tan Patchem said, made her feel “stronger … and proud.”

Photo from the Facebook page “In Memory of Corporal (Chuck) Kemaphoom Ahn Chanawongse.”

Corporal Chanawongse is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, 1 Memorial Avenue, Arlington, Virginia; Section 60, Site 7876.

Photo by Jeff DeWitt