Fallen but not forgotten: 15 more deaths
Posted: Friday, November 09, 2007 12:33 PM by Daily Nightly Contributor
Filed Under:
Conflict in Iraq, John Rutherford
By John Rutherford, NBC News Producer, Washington
Despite a recent decrease in violence, the number of American troops killed this year in Iraq is the highest since the war began. At least 853 Americans have died so far in 2007, surpassing the 849 killed in 2004. The military put its best spin on these figures.
"The strategy was to interject our soldiers between the Iraqi citizens and the terrorists," Lt. Col. Douglas Ollivant, chief of plans for American forces in Baghdad, told the Washington Post. "A regrettable consequence of that is your casualties go up."
Among those casualties were 11 of the 15 Americans who died last week in Iraq and Afghanistan.
1. Army Master Sgt. Thomas Bruner, 50, of Owensboro, Ky., liked Christmas so much he even decorated the inside of his garage. "We've always had big Christmases," Jane, his wife of 27 years, told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "He had reindeer, he had lights, a snowman, a sled." Bruner, a member of the Army Reserve, died Oct. 28 in Kabul, Afghanistan, of an apparent heart attack. He was on his second deployment to Afghanistan.
2. Army Maj. Jeffrey Calero, 34, of Queens Village, N.Y., loved to tinker with his 1970 convertible and spend time with his fiancee, Allison. He was an engineer in Manhattan before his National Guard unit was activated in June. Calero, a Green Beret, was killed Oct. 29 by a roadside bomb in Kajaki, Afghanistan. "He was gung-ho about going there," his father told Newsday. "Whenever duty called, he was there."
3. Army Staff Sgt. James Bullard, 28, of Marion, S.C., was home on leave in September for the birth of his son, Kristopher. "He was a family person, a good-hearted guy, an all-around good guy," his brother-in-law told scnow.com. Bullard, with the South Carolina National Guard, was killed Oct. 30 when his unit was attacked by insurgents in Spearwan Ghar, Afghanistan. Besides Kristopher, he is survived by his widow, Amber.
4. Army Sgt. Louis Griese, 30, of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., left for his third tour in Iraq about a month after his daughter, Skylar, was born. His mother didn't want him to go. "I said, 'I'm afraid for you this time,'" she told wbay.com. "And he said, 'Mama, I'm afraid, too, but that's my job.'" Griese, with the 101st Airborne Division, died Oct. 31 in Tikrit of injuries suffered in a roadside bomb blast. He leaves Skylar and his widow, Stephany.
5. Army Cpt. Timothy McGovern, 28, of Idaville, Ind., was in charge of a 90-member unit of the 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq. "He was able to do his job without sending a note or a letter to a mom or dad," his uncle told the Indianapolis Star. "No one was killed." Until Oct. 31, when McGovern and one of his men were killed by a roadside bomb in Mosul. "For this to happen to him has been very hard to swallow," McGovern's uncle told the Star.
6. Army Spc. Brandon Smitherman, 21, of Conroe, Texas, died in the same bomb blast that killed Cpt. McGovern. He was a third-string defensive end and deep snapper on his high school football team. "He was a great kid who always did what we asked him to do," his coach told the Montgomery County Courier. Smitherman joined the Army in 2005 and was a general construction equipment operator for the 1st Cavalry Division. He was due home in January.
7. Army Sgt. Daniel McCall, 24, of Pace, Fla., was a star athlete in high school, playing football and running track. He came in second in the 400-meter run in the state championship track meet. "He was a happy-go-lucky kid," his high school coach told the Pensacola News Journal. "He could run forever and run fast." McCall and two other members of the 3rd Infantry Division were killed by a roadside bomb in Salman Pak, Iraq, on Oct. 30.
8. Army Pfc. Rush "Mickey" Jenkins liked to wrestle, play the guitar, and shoot skeet growing up in Grassy Creek, Va. He died in the same bomb blast on Oct. 30 that killed Sgt. McCall. It was Jenkins' 22nd birthday. He had been home on leave just two weeks before then. "I just feel like it was God's way of letting us say goodbye to him, letting us see him one more time before it was his time to go," his younger brother told WSET.
9. Army Pvt. Cody Carver, 19, of Haskell, Okla., was remembered for his wicked sense of humor. He liked to tape the kitchen sink sprayer so that it squirted his mother when she turned on the water. "I asked him, 'Son, is the Army going to take away this part of you?'" his mother told the Muskogee Phoenix. "He said, 'No, Mom, you'll always need to be looking around corners for me.'" Carver had been in Iraq less than a month when he died in the Salman Pak bombing.
10. Air Force Master Sgt. Thomas Crowell, 36, of Neosho, Mo., was a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. "He was very, very proud of that," his mother told the Joplin Globe. Crowell and two other OSI special agents were killed Nov. 1 by a roadside bomb near Balad Air Base in Iraq. Crowell, who had been in the Air Force for nearly 18 years, was seven months from retirement. He leaves his widow, Carol, and two children, Eric, 9, and Ian, 2.
11. Air Force Staff Sgt. David Wieger, 28, of North Huntingdon, Pa., died in the same explosion as Sgt. Crowell. "There were two Air Force men at the door," Wieger's mother told KDKA. "I started screaming, thinking if I just keep backing up, I won't have to hear it, but I knew right away what it was." Wieger was remembered fondly at his former high school. "He was a great young man, great sense of humor," a school official told ThePittsburghChannel. "It's tragic, just tragic."
12. Nathan Schuldheiss, 27, of Newport, R.I., was a civilian assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He was on his way to interview a group of informants when the bomb blast killed him and Sgts. Crowell and Wieger. In a will he wrote before deploying to Iraq, Schuldheiss, who had a law degree, left $1,000 for the bar tab at his funeral. He also asked that his ashes be spread over the Gulf of Mexico, where he loved to sail.
13. Army 2nd Lt. Tracy Alger's passion back home in New Auburn, Wis., was barrel-racing, a rodeo-like event in which horse and rider maneuver around large barrels. "We spent a lot of time together traveling to barrel races," her mother told the Fond du Lac Reporter. "We did everything together." Alger, 30, a transportation officer with the 101st Airborne Division, was killed Nov. 1 in Shubayshen by a roadside bomb. She had been in Iraq two weeks.
14. Army Sgt. 1st Class Johnny Walls, 41, of Bremerton, Wash., joined the Army 22 years ago, right out of high school. "The Army was his life," his sister told the Kitsap Sun. Walls, with the 1st Infantry Division, was killed Nov. 2 in Uruzgan, Afghanistan, by small arms fire. "He was just going to have his birthday [Nov. 15], so we were all getting stuff together to send the day we found out," his sister told the Sun. Walls leaves his widow, Alene, and sons, Brent, Alex, and Bradley.
15. Army Pfc. Dwane Covert Jr., 20, of Tonawanda, N.Y., was cleaning up debris at a base in Al-Sahra, Iraq, on Nov. 3 when he picked up a bomb disguised as a caulking gun. It exploded, killing Covert, a member of the 3rd Infantry Division. "He was due to come home in December because he has a baby on the way," his mother told the Tonawanda News. His widow, Jeanette, is expecting their daughter, Zoe. Covert also leaves a 22-month-old son, Cameron.
Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He posts a weekly tribute to service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
