Posted on 10/15/2004 3:42:20 PM PDT by sushiman
You and yours are in our thoughts and prayers.
Your cousin is a hero to me. I thank God for him and lift up all of you who love him to God for His peace and blessing.
Howlin, very sorry to hear this, we have a local boy who was killed over in Iraq recently too. But not for those brave "young" men & those who came before them, we may all be speaking Japanese or German. God Bless you & your family. My only unlce gave his life in WWII but I know he did it for a just cause.
May God rest his soul and comfort those who loved him. Prayers for your family.
I will be praying with and for you and your entire family.
For Eric:
To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord
No more bleeding, no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
Just divine embrace, eternal light
In the Mansions of the Lord
Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
Through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord
Prayers and condolences for Eric's family and friends. May he rest in God's peace.
Our Merciful Master, our hearts hurt to hear these grievous tidings, so we run to Thee, our God of All Comfort, and plead for Your Strong Arms of Love to encircle this heartbroken family, and impart to them Your Own Heavenly Strength to Sustain and Steady them in their anguish and pain. May Your Hand of Peace rest upon them, and Your Blessed Spirit Console them, filling them with the Loving Presence of our God of Compassionate Love. We Praise You, Sweet King, and entrust their wounded souls into Your Caring Hand, and pray these things in the Name of our Holy One, amen.
I am so sorry. Prayers are offered for you and your family.
My deepest sympathy on your family's tragic loss.
Just wanted you and your family to know that I appreciate the sacrifice.
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
- General George S. Patton, Jr
TigersEye and .30Carbine
Tell us something about him......
Prayers....
Prayers offered up for your family and thanks for his, and their, sacrifice.
I'll pray for your cousin, sushiman.
Please accept my deepest condolences.
~Allegra
Civilian contractor based in Baghdad
Love and prayers for your whole family.
Brooklyn Mourns Civilian Slain In Iraq
October 16, 2004
By NOREEN GILLESPIE, Associated Press
BROOKLYN, Conn. -- Eric D. Miner spent more than a decade as a military man, serving his country as a Special Forces Green Beret with a Rhode Island National Guard unit. But when he left for Iraq last August, it wasn't in uniform.
He went to the turbulent region as a private citizen, working for State Department security contractor DynCorp.
Miner, 44, and three others were killed Thursday when two bombs exploded in the tightly guarded area of Baghdad known as the Green Zone. He leaves behind a wife, Tammy, and 11-year-old Audrey, 9-year-old Emily, and 6-year-old Nicholas.
"He had mentioned that there was an opportunity to make a great deal of money over there," friend Andrew Carey told radio station WILI. "I think he liked the adventure that goes along with that sort of life. He was an extremely capable individual, and we're all very proud of him and what he stood for."
A stream of friends and neighbors showed up at Miner's small country home Friday. The home had been decorated for Halloween with pumpkins on the stoop and a large wooden sign welcoming visitors. An American flag flew at half-staff on the well-kept lawn. Casualty officers from Rhode Island met with Miner's widow. A woman who answered the door said family members were too distraught to speak.
Miner grew up in eastern Connecticut and graduated from Killingly High School. He was a cable technician with Southern New England Telephone, now SBC, for 20 years.
His parents died when he was young, and a family friend, Lois Potter, raised then 4-year-old Eric and his 6-year-old brother. Eric Miner stayed in close contact, and had sent an e-mail to Lois Potter earlier this week, her son, Judge Russell F. Potter, said.
"They were like her own kids," Potter said.
When Lois Potter's husband died in the mid-1980s, Miner purchased their farm property in Brooklyn, and has lived there ever since, Russell Potter said.
"He loved the place," Potter said.
Miner was on leave from the Rhode Island National Guard, where he held the rank of sergeant first class with A Company, 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group. Military records show that he joined the National Guard in 1991. He was deployed to both Kosovo and, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, to Kuwait.
He asked for a leave of absence in July to pursue the job with DynCorp, said Rhode Island National Guard Major General Reginald A. Centracchio.
"No matter how you lose a soldier, it's still not an easy thing, certainly, for any of us to be able to justify," Centracchio said.
Funeral arrangements were still being made Friday, but the Rhode Island National Guard said Miner would be buried in Connecticut with full military honors. Miner is the 16th person with Connecticut ties killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan since March 2002.
DynCorp provides security and police training for the U.S. government and military in war zones worldwide. It won a $50 million State Department contract in April 2003 to train Iraqi police and prison personnel.
The firm is a division of Computer Sciences Corp., based in El Segundo, Calif.
"The management and staff of CSC and its DynCorp International business unit stand united in our sadness over the deaths and injuries of our employees," CSC spokesman Mike Dickerson said in a statement. "We extend our heartfelt and deepest sympathies to the families of the victims."
The blasts were reportedly the work of suicide bombers. Iraq's most feared terror group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the twin blasts according to a site known for Islamic content. A fourth DynCorp contractor is missing and presumed dead, and a fifth worker was wounded.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday the terrorists were targeting "not just Americans, but scores of innocent Iraqis. We condemn these acts, and they will not succeed."
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