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It is really hard to imagine your friends passing but as you reconnect with your fellow military members you find out things that are heartbreaking. Right now, I am dealing with an imminent loss and an unexpected death of one of my friends while in Germany. Last year it was SMSgt Floyd Parton (Lou Gehrigs Disease -ALS). What a decent man!!!
The other day I found out that TSgt Kimberly Reeb has also passed away to Cancer and she was probably in her early 50s. Still too young imho. Then I have a friend who was in Vietnam and a weather forecaster who is dying with Leukemia. He wants to remain anonymous name-wise, but I have been conversing with him for months. He also had four heart attacks but it appears Leukemia has it's own heartbreak.
I dreamed about him passing last night. The lonely loss of a military brother. Also lost a SSgt in a C-5A crash that took Randy's life. We played softball together at Volgelweh. Kaiserslautern.
Who do you know that has passed or is passing and give a shout out to the heroes that died before us?
The other day I found out that TSgt Kimberly Reeb has also passed away to Cancer and she was probably in her early 50s. Still too young imho. Then I have a friend who was in Vietnam and a weather forecaster who is dying with Leukemia. He wants to remain anonymous name-wise, but I have been conversing with him for months. He also had four heart attacks but it appears Leukemia has it's own heartbreak.
I dreamed about him passing last night. The lonely loss of a military brother. Also lost a SSgt in a C-5A crash that took Randy's life. We played softball together at Volgelweh. Kaiserslautern.
Who do you know that has passed or is passing and give a shout out to the heroes that died before us?
Fallen Soldiers
Navy
Marine Corps
Remembrance
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 47
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Here is my tribute to the fallen . . .
I took my Platoon Book from boot camp and looked up every name and compared it to the Vietnam Memorial's list on line. I made sure every everyone one of them had a "Remembrance Page" page on the web sit TWS-Marines. Some had already been remembered but some had not so I created pages for them as their sponsor. Every Veterans Day I send in a contribution in remembrance of these fallen Marines, by name, with whom I started my military career.
I challenge everyone on this site to do like wise regardless of conflict or if they died during peace time while on active duty (or not if you would like). I especially challenge those from the Vietnam era to do this.
I took my Platoon Book from boot camp and looked up every name and compared it to the Vietnam Memorial's list on line. I made sure every everyone one of them had a "Remembrance Page" page on the web sit TWS-Marines. Some had already been remembered but some had not so I created pages for them as their sponsor. Every Veterans Day I send in a contribution in remembrance of these fallen Marines, by name, with whom I started my military career.
I challenge everyone on this site to do like wise regardless of conflict or if they died during peace time while on active duty (or not if you would like). I especially challenge those from the Vietnam era to do this.
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SSgt (Join to see)
I have a couple updates to my own tribute pages and I thank you for reminding of me of that or at least being aware of that responsibility.
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SSgt (Join to see), Arthur Manos graduated from Robert E. Lee High School, Jacksonville, FL with me on June 4, 1967, and he's another soldier that I keep in mind.
He joined the United States Army soon after graduation and served as an infantryman in C Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One), U.S. Army Vietnam. When Private First Class Manos made the ultimate sacrifice in the Gia Dinh province of South Vietnam he was only nineteen years old and had not even been out of high school a year.
He is buried in Orange Park, FL and his name is located on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. at panel 56E, row 27.
Requiescat in pace.
1LT Sandy Annala and 1LT L S and SGT (Join to see) SGT Mark Anderson CSM Charles Hayden
He joined the United States Army soon after graduation and served as an infantryman in C Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One), U.S. Army Vietnam. When Private First Class Manos made the ultimate sacrifice in the Gia Dinh province of South Vietnam he was only nineteen years old and had not even been out of high school a year.
He is buried in Orange Park, FL and his name is located on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. at panel 56E, row 27.
Requiescat in pace.
1LT Sandy Annala and 1LT L S and SGT (Join to see) SGT Mark Anderson CSM Charles Hayden
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LTC Stephen C.
1LT L S, it's a nice sentiment, but for the most part, I think we must realistically see ourselves as so aptly expressed by Kerry Livgren (Kansas), "Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind."
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LTC Stephen C.
PO2 William Allen Crowder, give yourself a break! You've come a long way since you started on RP!
1LT L S
1LT L S
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PV2 Violet Case
sorry for you friend LTC Stephen Curlee, May he R.I.P. It is to bad we do not have a memorial page when one passes away and can animate the flag to fly at half mast on the site here.
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SSgt (Join to see), I always remember First Lieutenant Thomas Gary Sikes of Jacksonville, FL. Lieutenant Gary Sikes was a 1962 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School, Jacksonville, FL and 1967 graduate of Mercer University, Macon, GA.
Lieutenant Sikes was the 2nd Platoon Leader, of C Company, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment (The Professionals), 198th Infantry Brigade, Americal (23rd) Division, United States Army Vietnam.
When Lieutenant Sikes gave his all in the Quang Ngai province of South Vietnam, he was only 23 years old, and he left a wife and a one month old son that he never even saw.
He is buried in Bowman, GA, and his name appears on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC at coordinates 36W 053.
Requiescat in pace.
1LT Sandy Annala and 1LT L S SGT (Join to see) SGT Mark Anderson CSM Charles Hayden
Lieutenant Sikes was the 2nd Platoon Leader, of C Company, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment (The Professionals), 198th Infantry Brigade, Americal (23rd) Division, United States Army Vietnam.
When Lieutenant Sikes gave his all in the Quang Ngai province of South Vietnam, he was only 23 years old, and he left a wife and a one month old son that he never even saw.
He is buried in Bowman, GA, and his name appears on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC at coordinates 36W 053.
Requiescat in pace.
1LT Sandy Annala and 1LT L S SGT (Join to see) SGT Mark Anderson CSM Charles Hayden
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SSgt (Join to see)
Thanks Colonel for that very moving remembrance of what sacrifice really is and the intimacy of knowing a person that is no longer among us.
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CSM Charles Hayden
One more, shake my head and wonder moment! LTC Stephen C. Memories of our losses seem to remain with us forever. What other tribute could we, the survivors provide?
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Very kind of you to start this thread Larry. I just got word that my pre-Army HS best friend in on his last leg. He is only 3 months older than me. I will say that I was one of those people who really needed the military to get away from the bad influences and get on the right path. The part in "Officer and a Gentleman" when he breaks down and says "I got nowhere else to go"......That was me big time. Of the very tight-knit, small group of friends that I had (we were the outcasts) I left and joined the military and they all stayed behind to continue the party. I have lost one to gang violence, 3 to alcoholism, and now my best friend with lung cancer. When he is gone my link to my past life will be gone as well. I won't mention his name, but I finally had to sever the ties (about 15 years ago). I tried for years to do everything in my power to help but some people will not accept help. It is like being tied to someone in the middle of the ocean that refuses to help swim to shore. Your choice is to give up and accept their fate or to cut loose, or "let go or get dragged" if the biker analogy is more appropriate. Goodbye dear friend. I'm sorry you found life so miserable.
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SSgt (Join to see)
Amen brother.. about brings ones to tears... It is painful and this is partly what these DOD people do not get... the civilians with no prior service....
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Sgt Chris Hrbek 14 Jan 2010
http://www.sgthrbek.com/
http://www.fallenheroesproject.org/united-states/christopher-r-hrbek/
LCpl Justin Wilson 22 Mar 2010
http://www.fallenheroesproject.org/united-states/justin-j-wilson/
LtCol Benjamin "Chili" Palmer 12 May 2011
http://freedomremembered.com/index.php/lt-col-benjamin-j-palmer/
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/03/local/la-me-benjamin-palmer-20110703
Semper Fidelis Brothers, Peace to you and your families.
http://www.sgthrbek.com/
http://www.fallenheroesproject.org/united-states/christopher-r-hrbek/
LCpl Justin Wilson 22 Mar 2010
http://www.fallenheroesproject.org/united-states/justin-j-wilson/
LtCol Benjamin "Chili" Palmer 12 May 2011
http://freedomremembered.com/index.php/lt-col-benjamin-j-palmer/
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/03/local/la-me-benjamin-palmer-20110703
Semper Fidelis Brothers, Peace to you and your families.
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Capt Richard I P.
Five years ago today Sgt Hrbek, acting as Assistant Convoy Commander hopped out of his MRAP to check the next one back after an IED strike near some "wala-village". Explosive Ordnance Disposal was embedded on the movement and had already swept the area for secondaries. Sgt Hrbek stepped on a secondary explosive that had a low-metallic signature and not been detected. The call came over the radio-net with zap numbers "HH-1234" I couldn't think of any "H" s in HQ company. My Sgt came into our intel shop with a deadpan face and asked our civilian contractor to leave. He said, "There's one KIA, it was Hrbek." It hit me in a heavy, surreal way. We were about to turn over control of our AO to 1/6, in two days... I plotted the grid on a map. I knew the compound. I had pictures in front of it with Sgt Hrbek, and the family who lived there. He was wearing a backpack full of stuffed animals from care packages. He had been carrying extra weight in that heat to hand out toys. Our Battalion Commander wouldn't authorize a patrol to return to the area in the next two days- it wasn't worth the risk. The CO consoled the EOD GySgt who blamed himself ("there's no blame here...pressure plates aren't always detectable.") My Marines made a product with the photos, angles, maps with locations of the attack and of the photos taken, names and friendliness of local personalities. I handed the package over to the Intel officer of 1/6 for his Marines to try to follow up on. It wouldn't matter. The dirt-poor farmer, whose children had taken the stuffed animals from Sgt Hrbek, whose compound wall was meters away from the explosion, his family wouldn't know anything. They wouldn't have seen or heard anything. Even if they had, even if they knew everything, they live there, we just work there. We're only there an hour or two once a week, the Talibs are there whenever they want to be. And now? Five years later? All the Marines are gone. The Taliban and the farmers are the only ones there. And dust. And memories of a man who won a Bronze star saving the SgtMaj's life a month before , who was always ready to step up for his fellow Marines, who carried a backpack full of toys meters from the spot he would die a week later. Sgt Hrbek, Semper Fidelis, Rest in Peace.
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Cpl Dennis F.
Capt Richard I P. When I finally got word of Cpl Eberles death in Bethesda, I was down to about 10 days and running tanks out to the rocket belt every night to set up firing azimuths from small outlying perimeters. It was pretty tough to push my ass down that road. I had a lot of anger and no real place to put it. The deaths that I had been present for were much easier to take for some reason.
I just reviewed My PI yearbook. Of the few that I could keep track of, 20% had been killed or wounded. That had been the estimate for the entire graduating platoon. I often wonder what the true accounting was. When I hear of the living called Heroes, I think of that 20%.
I just reviewed My PI yearbook. Of the few that I could keep track of, 20% had been killed or wounded. That had been the estimate for the entire graduating platoon. I often wonder what the true accounting was. When I hear of the living called Heroes, I think of that 20%.
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PFC Stephens Clark
Sgt.Greg Nunes was killed in a C130 accident while preparing for a jump training exercise  11B20 my he rest in peace  http://fromcowpasturestokosovo.blogspot.com/2011/03/remembering-heroes-of-green-ramp-23.html I went to school with him and served at Ft.Stewart GA also with him great guy and soldier. He lead by example...
Sgt Gregory D. Nunes, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Sgt Gregory D. Nunes, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment
From Cow Pastures To Kosovo: Remembering The Heroes of Green Ramp, 23 March 1994
God Leda, I must have had my head up my ass back then because this is the first I have heard about this. Though I feel horrible about what happened, I am not surprised at how the troops acted. Helping out a brother soldier is an automatic action, not a reaction. You help your brothers, even if it means you get hurt, too. I will say a prayer for them and those who didn’t make it. Thanks for posting this.
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SSG L OI, Here's to us and them like us and most of them are gone! Better yet, Here's to tomorrow and a better world for we'ns and ours. CSM Hayden
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SSgt (Join to see)
Yes indeed. MY friend an Air Force SSgt is near death. Prayers and condolences. This Veteran has had 4 heart attacks and now Leukemia.
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1stSgt Ron Gallegos
The hardest thing for me was when my youngest brother passed away in Tallil, Iraq. I was Stateside and was the Official Escort from Dover, Delaware. Looking at the box and saying to myself I could have prevented this. Years after I realized I couldn't. Since 1987 my tours have taken me everywhere, some came back some didn't I live with this and Honor them all on Special Days. "SEMPER FI"
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John Wayne Malapelli KIA Feb 9, 1965 RVN. My next door neighbor and childhood friend, was the first person in the Greater Cincinnati area killed in VN. John was RTO on a four man adviser team that was abandoned by their RVN Allies and were captured by VC who after parading through several villages tortured and executed them. I was stationed in Korea at the time and first heard of it in Stars & Stripes. RIP John.
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SSgt (Join to see)
Amen SGT Perry. Thanks for the remembrance, an issue I plan to take up this year and see how we can help each other. These losses are a rough rock we dash our feet against and the pain never totally goes away. Considering his life and family and what they feel even today.
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I have a small group from Desert Storm that I keep close to me. I also have lost battles in Afghanistan. I think we all have lost brothers and sisters and I try to live my life to the best I can out of respect to those who have paid the ultimate price for our country.
I also remember this poor little baby, in Afghanistan, that died due to injuries that his father wouldn't let the medics treat. He was just a baby, probably 18 months, I see him in my dreams still...
I also remember this poor little baby, in Afghanistan, that died due to injuries that his father wouldn't let the medics treat. He was just a baby, probably 18 months, I see him in my dreams still...
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Not the first time I've mentioned him, SSG Chris Robinson. This is where I go when I need to dig deep and find some motivation. When we were young kids we would get all camoed up and go running through the creek beds late at night on some mock mission to take out Winn - Dixie. He left a wife and 2 kids. I'll see you at the 'Green' my friend.
http://www.groups.sfahq.com/20th/robinson_chris_kia_20th.htm
http://www.groups.sfahq.com/20th/robinson_chris_kia_20th.htm
Sgt. 1st Class Christopher L. Robinson
KIA 25 March 2006 in the Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan when he was fatally struck by enemy small arms fire during a combat patrol
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