Thursday, January 30, 2003

Let us pause to honor and remember those who have died so that we may live in peace.

—Dec. 21, 2002: Army Sgt. Steven Checo, 22, of New York City, was shot and killed in a gunfight while on a nighttime operation in the eastern province of Paktika, near the border of Pakistan.

—Aug. 7: Sgt. 1st Class Christopher James Speer, 28, of Albuquerque, N.M., died of wounds received July 27 in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan. Four other American soldiers were injured.

—May 19: Sgt. Gene Vance Jr., U.S. Special Forces soldier, was killed while on patrol in eastern Afghanistan after his unit came under heavy fire.

—March 28: Chief Petty Officer Matthew J. Bourgeois, 35, of Tallahassee, Fla., was killed when he stepped on a land mine during a training mission near Kandahar. Another serviceman was wounded.

—March 4: Seven American soldiers were killed and 11 were wounded when two helicopters took enemy fire in the largest allied air and ground offensive of the war. Those killed: (Army) Sgt. Bradley S. Crose, 27, of Orange Park, Fla.; Sgt. Philip J. Svitak, 31, of Joplin, Mo.; Spc. Marc A. Anderson, 30, of Brandon, Fla.; Pfc. Matthew A. Commons, 21, of Boulder City, Nev.; (Navy) Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. Roberts, 32, of Woodland, Calif.; (Air Force) Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, 36, of Waco, Texas; Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham, 26, of Camarillo, Calif.

—Jan. 4: Army Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, 31, of San Antonio, was killed in the vicinity of Khost, near the Pakistan border. First U.S. soldier killed by the enemy.

—Dec. 5, 2001: Staff Sgt. Brian ``Cody'' Prosser, 28, Frazier Park, Calif.; Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39, Watauga, Tenn.; and Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory, 32, Cheshire, Mass., were killed in Afghanistan when a U.S. bomb missed its target.

—Nov. 25: CIA officer Johnny ``Mike'' Spann, 32, of Winfield, Ala., was killed by rioting prisoners at Mazar-e-Sharif. First American killed in action in Afghanistan.

—Jan. 30, 2003: Four were killed aboard an Army UH-60 helicopter that crashed near the Bagram air base. An American official said the helicopter and its crew were on a routine training mission and the crash appeared to be an accident.

—June 12, 2002: Three were killed when their Air Force MC-130H transport plane crashed on takeoff in Eastern Afghanistan. Seven others injured.

—April 15: Staff Sgt. Brian T. Craig, 27, of Houston; Staff Sgt. Justin J. Galewski, 28, of Olathe, Kan.; Sgt. Jamie O. Maugans, 27, of Derby, Kan.; and Sgt. 1st Class Daniel A. Romero, 30, of Longmont, Colo., all died in Kandahar when rockets they were trying to destroy accidentally blew up.

—March 2: Army Chief Warrant Officer Stanley L. Harriman, 34, a native of Nixa, Mo., was killed mistakenly by friendly fire from an Air Force AC-130 gunship. U.S. authorities originally said he had been killed by enemy mortar fire. Also, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Christopher M. Blaschum, 33, of Virginia Beach, Va., died after ejecting from his F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, which crashed during a training exercise in the Mediterranean Sea.

—Feb. 13: Army Spc. Jason A. Disney, 21, of Fallon, Nev., was killed shortly after a piece of heavy equipment fell on him at Bagram air base, 40 miles north of Kabul.

—Jan. 20: Staff Sgt. Walter F. Cohee III, 26, of Wicomico, Md., and Sgt. Dwight J. Morgan, 24, of Mendocino, Calif., both Marines, were killed when their CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed while on a resupply mission. Five other Marines injured.

—Jan. 9: Capt. Matthew W. Bancroft, 29, of Redding, Calif.; Capt. Daniel G. McCollum, 29, of Irmo, S.C.; Gunnery Sgt. Stephen L. Bryson, 36, of Montgomery, Ala.; Staff Sgt. Scott N. Germosen, 37, of New York; Sgt. Nathan P. Hays, 21, of Wilbur, Wash.; Lance Cpl. Bryan P. Bertrand, 23, of Coos Bay, Ore.; and Sgt. Jeannette L. Winters, 25, of Gary, Ind., all Marines, were killed in the crash of a tanker plane into a mountain in Pakistan.

—Nov. 29, 2001: Pvt. Giovany Maria, 19, of New York, was shot to death in Uzbekistan, where about 1,000 members of the Army's 10th Mountain Division were stationed. Officials say his death is under investigation, not result of enemy action.

—Nov. 7: Sailor Bryant L. Davis, 20, of Chicago, a fireman apprentice, was declared dead after he fell overboard from an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.

—Oct. 19: Army Rangers Pfc. Kristofor Stonesifer, 28, of Doylestown, Pa., and Spc. Jonn J. Edmunds, 20, of Cheyenne, Wyo., were killed in the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter in Pakistan.

—Oct. 10: Air Force Master Sgt. Evander Earl Andrews, 36, of Solon, Maine, was killed in a heavy-equipment accident in the northern Arabian peninsula. The first death in the campaign.

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