Free Republic

CENTER POINT — One year later and half a world away, the echo of a distant war reverberated across the Hill Country at a memorial service Tuesday for Army Spc. James Kiehl. Family and past comrades of Kiehl, 22, shed tears as a cross was placed beside the grave of the lanky Texas newlywed who, on March 23, 2003, became one of America's first casualties of the war in Iraq. The green cross from the Former Texas Rangers Association is a modified version of those that mark the graves of 33 Texas Rangers buried in the Center Point Community Cemetery....

CENTER POINT, Texas (Reuters) - At a ceremony on Tuesday marking the one-year anniversary of the Iraqi attack on Pvt. Jessica Lynch's Army unit, the widow of a soldier who died in the fight blasted President Bush (news - web sites) for "lying to America" to justify the Iraq (news - web sites) war. In bitter comments beside the grave of Army Specialist James Kiehl, widow Jill Kiehl accused Bush of fabricating reasons to launch the invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). "The evidence that's starting to come out now feels like he (Bush) was...

SOLDIER'S FUNERAL, TEXAS STYLE I found this quote to sum up what most of us all feel "Obviously, Texas does not have the market on people who care, but it is nice to see that people in general are so thankful for what our military men and women are doing for us." Specialist James Kiehl, age 22, from Comfort, Texas, was killed, along with six other soldiers at the same place and the same day that Jessica Lynch was taken prisoner. His body was one of those that our special forces heroes dug up with their bare hands near the...

SOLDIER'S FUNERAL, TEXAS STYLE

<p>September 5, 2003 -- The father of a soldier killed in the ambush in Iraq that Pvt. Jessica Lynch survived is furious she's getting a $1 million book deal.</p> <p>"I don't have a problem about her writing about her life, but when it involves not only my son, but of the others injured, wounded or killed, why should one person make money over the deaths of other people?" said Randy Kiehl, the father of Army Spc. James Kiehl, who was killed in action.</p>

Slain Soldier's Father Criticizes Lynch's Book Deal Kiehl Says Lynch Is 'A Profiteer' POSTED: 9:02 AM CDT September 4, 2003 COMFORT, Texas -- The father of a Comfort soldier killed in an ambush in Iraq that former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch survived said that Lynch's million-dollar book deal will taint the memory of the soldiers killed in the ambush. "Pretty severe, isn't it?" Randy Kiehl (pictured, left), the father of Army Spc. James Kiehl, said in an exclusive interview with KSAT 12 News Wednesday from his home in Comfort. "That she makes money off the death of my...

The families of at least three of the soldiers who died in the March 23 ambush of Fort Bliss' 507th Maintenance Company said they haven't been told the details of their loved one's deaths. But the Army said it has finished telling the families of the fallen soldiers about the attack that claimed nine lives in the Iraqi desert. Randy Kiehl, father of Spc. James Kiehl of Comfort, Texas; Arlene Walters, mother of Sgt. Donald R. Walters of Salem, Ore.; and Roxane Dowdy, sister of Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy of Cleveland, said they are upset with the way the...

Military tells 507th, kin details of ambush Laura Cruz El Paso Times Army officials have begun telling families and members of Fort Bliss' 507th Maintenance Company what the military's investigation has found about the March 23 ambush in Iraq in which nine 507th soldiers were killed, six captured and four wounded. The families Thursday were not discussing what they had been told because the Army asked them not to speak publicly until all families have been given the information. But Janie Kiehl, mother of slain soldier James Kiehl, who hadn't been briefed on the ambush yet, said that when her...

Widow of Soldier Killed Due To Give Birth LAST UPDATE: 5/5/2003 1:15:54 PM Posted By: Andrea Rigsby The pregnant widow of an Army specialist killed in Iraq says she's going to teach the couple's son about his dad. James Michael Kiehl of Comfort, Texas, was killed in an ambush in March. "My dad told me that morning, there were people from his company missing and I just automatically and I was like, James is one of them," says Jill Kiehl. 21-year-old Jill Kiehl is days away from giving birth to the couples first child. The baby, to be named...

Dorothy Oxendine presides over American Gold Star Mothers Inc., a national organization of women whose sons and daughters have died in military service to the nation. (Photo by Mark Abraham) AMERICAN IDENTITY With the Iraq War, a New Generation of Gold Star Mothers BY DELIA M. RIOS More stories by Delia M. Rios WASHINGTON -- As Dorothy Oxendine knows, the most dreaded words a parent can hear are "We regret to inform you ..." She lost her only son, Pfc. Willie F. Oxendine III, to a land mine in Vietnam on May 30, 1968. His death at age 21...

COMFORT, Texas. (BP)--Army Spc. James Kiehl did not know death was around the corner. No one did. No one ever does. But on that day in the Kuwaiti desert, with his unit preparing for battle, Kiehl responded to God's call and accepted Christ into his heart. He was saved. His baptism was captured by a television crew, providing joy for friends and family members back home. Kiehl's walk as a Christian, though, lasted not years, but mere days. In late March, in the heart of Iraq, he was killed, leaving behind a wife who was expecting their first child. Fittingly,...

THE Pentagon has ordered detailed tests to be carried out on many of the servicemen killed in Iraq in an effort to prove that war crimes were committed against American prisoners of war. Tests have already been carried out by teams of specialist army investigators at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on at least nine of the bodies. An official said that X-rays, DNA tests and full body examinations had been completed on many dead servicemen. The results have been sent to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington for analysis. Parents and spouses of the dead soldiers,...

Families of Seven Rescued POWS Rejoice By CHRIS ROBERTS .c The Associated Press EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Just two days after Fort Bliss mourned nine soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company, ``great rejoicing'' began with word that five other members of the unit who were taken prisoner in Iraq are now free. ``When it all started it was like a nightmare,'' Joel Hernandez told NBC's ``Today'' show Monday about the capture of his brother, Army Spc. Edgar Alan Hernandez. ``We were just waiting for good news and we got that good news, and now it's time to celebrate.'' Hernandez...

More than 1,000 people are gathered at the Biggs Army Airfield deployment facility this afternoon to pay tribute to the nine members of the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss who were killed in an ambush near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23. Among those attending the ceremony are Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki along with Congressional leaders. Soldiers and civilians began filing into the deployment facility around 1:30 p.m. today. They steadily filled chairs facing a stage backdrop with a wall of blue fabric and a 20-foot tall american flag. At the front of the...

A COUPLE of miles along Highway 87, just past Comfort High School, a collection of seemingly random objects lies on a blanket beneath an American flag inscribed with the name James Kiehl. James, 22, was killed on March 23 when his team of mechanics, cooks and supply clerks from the US Army’s 507th Maintenance Company were ambushed on their way to repair the computers on a Patriot missile launcher near al-Nasiriyah in Iraq. He is survived by his wife, Jill, whose first baby is due on May 4. His friends in Comfort, a tiny town of 1,200 residents, a petrol...

COMFORT, Texas (BP)--The parents of a dead American soldier are taking comfort knowing their son accepted Christ and was baptized days before he was killed. Army Spc. James Kiehl, 22, was one of the soldiers found dead during the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch. He had been listed as missing in action since their convoy, part of the 507th Maintenance Company based in Fort Bliss, Texas, was ambushed. For days his parents in the small town of Comfort, Texas, had hoped their son would come home alive. Upon word of his death, they were reassured knowing he had been...

Names of the four US Marines who died in yesterday's helicopter crash: Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of Bloomington, Ill. Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, of Houston, Texas Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Watersbey, 29, of Baltimore, Md. The Pentagon has just released the names of two more US Marines who were killed in Iraq. I'll post as soon as I find that.

8 Bodies Found in Raid Were U.S. Soldiers .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Eight of the bodies found during the rescue of an American POW in Iraq this week were members of her ambushed Army maintenance unit, the Pentagon announced Saturday. The eight soldiers were with Pfc. Jessica Lynch when their unit, the 507th Maintenance Company, was ambushed near Nasiriyah on March 23. The U.S. commandos who freed Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah this week also found 11 bodies, nine of which were believed to be those of Americans. The nine bodies had been returned to a...