(2PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
Recent American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, as listed at the Washington Post.
Pfc. Bradley D. Rappuhn died at Zhari Kandahar, Afghanistan, August 8, 2010. He was 24 years old.
From the Lansing State Journal…
“He was supposed to come home in the end of July,” said his mother, Roxanne Rappuhn, 53, of Grand Ledge. “But they tacked 45 more days on.”
“If he were here right now, he’d be telling me to suck it up,” she said.
Spec. Faith R. Hinkley died in Baghdad August 7, 2010. She was 23 years old.
From the Denver Post…
Hinkley, who had been in her high school’s marching band, surprised her family after the first year of college at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs when she announced she had enlisted in the Army.
“She really couldn’t tell us what she did,” Orene Hinkley said. “She didn’t want us to worry about her.
Lance Cpl. Kevin M. Cornelius died in Helmand province, Afghanistan, August 7, 2010. He was 20 years old.
From the Ashtabula Star-Beacon…
One of Kevin’s favorite times was the bicycle trip he took in 2006, when he rode his bike from East Glacier, Mont. to Ashtabula, a distance of 1,975 miles.
Pfc. Vincent E. Gammone III died in Helmand Province, Afghanistam, August 7, 2010. He was 19 years old.
From the Murfreesboro (Tennessee) Daily News-Journal…
Gammone’s father, Vincent Gammone, II, suffers from multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with one another. West said when the older Gammone learned of his son’s death he “didn’t believe it was his son” at first. “Yesterday (Monday) it finally hit him.”
Spec. Michael L. Stansbery died near Kandahar, Afghanistan, July 30, 2010. He was 21 years old.
From NewsChannel 5 in Nashville Tennessee…
His family received a letter recently dated three weeks ago. One of his friend’s read parts of it to NewsChannel 5.
“Don’t worry yourself so much over me because I am well. I wish I knew how I could bring peace to your mind,” said John Jankovich, a longtime friend of Stansbery’s as he read the letter from Michael.
He also read parts of a letter Michael had written in first grade.
“I will go to battle and have a bunch of men with me to help. I will go to the ocean and save someone from trouble,” read Jankovich.
Staff Sgt. Conrad A. Mora died at Qalat, Afghanistan, July 24, 2010. He was 24 years old.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune…
Military life “was his passion,” said his brother-in-law, Christian Lleva. The last time Mora’s family saw him was in May, when they shared a meal at Goldilocks, a bakery and Filipino cuisine restaurant in National City.
“After dinner we came back here, and we all talked for hours and hours,” Lleva said. “He would rap about anything,” Lleva said. “He could make anything rhyme.”
Sweet Old World
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About most of the soldiers listed by the Washington Post, there isn’t even as much online as the primitive obituaries which I excerpted here.
What did they lose, those kids from Lansing and Ashtabula and Murfreesboro?
Neither the lyrics or the origin of Lucinda Williams’ song exactly fits the situation, but it expresses something elemental more clearly than any other song I know.