Free Republic

Pfc. Sam Huff decided at age 16 she would enlist in the Army. On Monday she was killed when a roadside bomb detonated next to her Humvee in Baghdad. Eighteen-year-old Pfc. Sam Huff was born with a man's name. But she was a consummate "girlie-girl," said her father, Robert Huff. She liked to wear false eyelashes and played flute in her high-school band. Last July, she joined the Army, the first step in a career she hoped would take her to the FBI. On April 18, Huff, an only child, became the 37th U.S. female to die in combat since...

ASHINGTON, March 29 - Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, killed nearly two years ago defending his vastly outnumbered Army unit in a fierce battle with elite Iraqi troops for control of Baghdad's airport, will receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, administration officials said Tuesday.No soldier who served in Afghanistan or Iraq after the Sept. 11 attacks has yet received the medal. The last conflict to produce a Medal of Honor recipient was in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993; two soldiers were awarded the medal posthumously for actions there, later depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down."Sergeant...

More than 100 Army Reserve soldiers came home to the waiting arms of family members in Tucson Thursday night, thrilled to be back after a year in Iraq but sad that one colleague hadn't survived. The late Sgt. Tina S. Time's picture was posted above a sign saying "Welcome Home Soldiers from the 208th" that hung on a wall inside the assembly hall of the Army Reserve Center on the South Side. There, three busloads of reserves rolled in shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, just as the sun dipped beneath the horizon. Time, who died in a vehicle crash near...

New York - A New York City firefighter who had responded to the World Trade Centre attack was killed in Iraq while serving with the Army National Guard, city officials said. Sergeant Christian P Engeldrum, 39, is the first New York firefighter to die in Iraq since the US-led war began, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Engeldrum was killed on Monday when his vehicle came under attack outside Baghdad. "I join all New Yorkers in mourning his loss and pray that his family finds comfort in the innumerable ways he touched so many lives," Bloomberg said in a statement. Another New...

REPTON -- The death of a Repton native serving in Iraq may have been the result of an attack rather than an accident, as originally reported, a high-ranking U.S. general has said........................................ .........................................................

This is a beautiful tribute that was sent to me by a good friend in Georgia who is in close touch with native America and it seems to have not been seen by most here. I posted the link on a couple of other threads and it was suggested that it deserves its own thread. > Click on the picture

French plea as cemetery defaced Etaples contains 11,000 war graves French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has pleaded for trans-Atlantic tolerance after graffiti was daubed on a British war cemetery in northern France. Slogans reading "Death to Yankees" and "Rosbeefs (Brits) go home" were painted on the central memorial in Etaples, near the Channel port of Boulogne in northern France. The slogans also called for UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush to be sent to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. "Saddam Hussein will win and spill your blood", one slogan read. Another claimed the...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 March 23, 2003Release Number: 03-03-52 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DOD Release: Coverage of POWs and Deceased Out of respect for the families and consistent with the principles of the Geneva Conventions: 1) We request news organizations not air or publish recognizable images or audio recordings that identify POWs. Additionally, we request you not use their names, first or last, or their unit until next-of-kin notification is complete. We are working hard to reach their families. We will notify...

10 Marines Based in N.C. Killed in Iraq By ESTES THOMPSON .c The Associated Press JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) - The U.S. military deaths in Iraq include at least 10 Marines who were stationed at Camp Lejeune, a base spokeswoman confirmed. Most of them died in the ambush near An Nasiriyah, the Pentagon said. U.S. officials have said nine Marines were killed near An Nasiriyah on Sunday when one Iraqi unit indicated it was giving up, then opened fire when the Marines approached. U.S. military sources said about 40 were wounded. On Tuesday, the Department of Defense said seven of those...

Pentagon identifies 7 Marines killed in Iraq WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - The Defense Department on Tuesday identified seven U.S. Marines killed in a firefight near the southern city of Nassiriya on Sunday, raising to 18 the total number of confirmed U.S. casualties in the Iraq war. The Pentagon named those killed as Sgt. Michael Blitz, 31, of Ventura, California; Lance Cpl. David Fribley, 26, of Lee, Florida; Cpl. Jose Garibay, 21, of Orange, California; Cpl. Jorge Gonzalez, 20, of Los Angeles; Staff Sgt. Phillip Jordan, 42, of Brazoria, Texas; 2nd Lt. Frederick Pokorney Jr., 31, of Nye, Nevada; and...

NBC News ran a background story about Jose Guiterrez, killed U.S. Marine. He came to the country illegally from Guatemala in a freight train. Lived in a foster home, became a U.S. Marine and died in the last few days in Iraq. Brokow follows up with: "Think about that before you rail against illegal immigrants again!"

LOS ANGELES — Long before he ever traveled to the Persian Gulf, Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez was acquainted with perilous and uncertain journeys. Lanky, quiet and full of ambition, Gutierrez, 22, is believed to be the second U.S. serviceman to die in combat, an American Marine with a distinctive Southern California background: He was among thousands of Central American immigrants who for years have made their way north in dangerous personal odysseys. At age 16, he had traveled by himself from his home in Guatemala, making his way across Mexico into the United States, where he was taken in...

<p>Seven U.S. service personnel and 14 British soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq and Kuwait since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the Pentagon. The casualty list below reflects the names of the personnel whose families have been notified.</p>

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.