Saturday nights at Landstuhl hospital

A gurney stands ready to transport a patient to the Sunday morning US-bound medevac flight in front of a showcase with a Soldiers’ Angels backpack on one of the medical/surgical wards at Landstuhl hospital.

Flights leave Germany for CONUS 3 days each week. At 2200 the night before a medevac mission, Air Force personnel pick up "baggage" and park a gurney for each outgoing patient in the hallway of their ward.

Faith

Well over 50,000 patients have passed through Landstuhl since the beginning of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Three times each week, medevac aircraft leave Germany for the US. They carry those requiring "transfer for continued care". We can't keep them here; we need to make room for "incoming".

In some cases I keep in touch with the families of those who have gone home. But mostly, I can't. There are others here now, more arriving today, and still more arriving tomorrow.

And just as the caregivers downrange need to have faith that we will take care of the patients they send to us in Germany, we, in turn, must have faith that you will take care of those we send home to you.

If you are not familiar with Soldiers' Angel's Project Valour IT, you can find information here.

Your contribution can help provide voice-controlled/adaptive laptop computers and other technology to support Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from severe injuries.

If you're a blogger, you can help spread the word by joining our annual Valour IT fundraising drive which will continue until Thanksgiving.

Please help if you can. Thank you.

“On the 12th of November we lost two great warriors. We lost a Troop Commander and his gunner, and it hurts.”

Those were LTC Michael Fenzel's opening words at the memorial service for CPT Dave Boris and SGT Adrian Hike of Anvil Troop, 1st Squadron 91st Cavalry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, killed on 12 November, 2007 in the Bermel District of Paktika Province, Afghanistan.

He went on to say, "We don't mourn the loss of Dave Boris and Adrian Hike today. Instead, we thank God that these men lived, and we celebrate the fact that we were honored and privileged enough to have served with them and alongside them."

While embedded with the 1-91 Cav last year, photographer John McHugh documented their memorial service through his extraordinary photography. Please take a moment to watch the slide show he created (with audio) here.

Sky Soldiers! Airborne!



Click here for more 173rd ABCT Afghanistan posts.

The Diggers of Belgium

Some people refer to this band of Belgians as “The Diggers” for its dogged determination to recover the remains of U.S. infantrymen who remain missing from the Battle of the Bulge. Pictured from left to right are: Jean-Luc Menestrey, Marc Marique, Jean-Philippe Speder and Jean-Louis Seel. Photo: Kevin Dougherty / S&S

It's been a long time since I've read such an inspirational story - a story about decades of quiet, selfless dedication. A story about those who honor the price of freedom.

It began when two men were teenagers going on souvenir hunts through the Belgian forests, at that time still scattered with WWII litter. Then, one day, they found the skeletal remains of a German Soldier. And four years later, in 1988, the remains of an American Soldier.

"When we found our first American, it was a turning point."

Since then, they've never stopped looking through the quiet woods, although years often go by between finds.

"Sometimes I think I see shadows," Speder said. "In a sense, they are still here."

When you ask them why they do it, why they've devoted countless hours of their time over decades to locating Americans they never knew, Americans who died well before they were born, they say they consider it an honor.

"They liberated my parents and grandparents," Speder said. The soldiers "are kind of my family."

Annually, the U.S. spends more than $100 million a year on POW/MIA matters, much of it in Southeast Asia, based on Defense Department figures. Despite the sum, JPAC won’t send recovery teams to Europe — or, for that matter, anywhere in the world — without solid leads.

When a site is confirmed, the mortuary affairs office in Landstuhl is contacted and it coordinates with JPAC to ultimately bring the remains to Hawaii for further examination and tests.

[Finding solid leads] is where Speder and his team enter the equation.

The telegrams that reached the front stoops of many homes during World War II rarely conveyed good news to anxious families. In this January 1945 telegram, the family of Pfc. Dominick Posillipo learned that the previous month he had been reported missing in action in Belgium. Photo and story: Kevin Dougherty / S&S

One of the cases involves Pfc. Dominick Posillipo.

When his unit retreated during the early days of the German counteroffensive, Posillipo’s body was left behind and never recovered, his nephew, John Lozito, said. A month later, the Posillipo family received a telegram from the War Department stating he was missing in action.

A subsequent telegram said he died in Denmark, though unit buddies say he died near Steinbruck, Belgium, on the northern flank, where the 99th was situated.

Lozito continues to research the incident. While JPAC officials have visited the general area, Lozito is also in contact with The Diggers.

"They are my family’s last hope," Lozito said of the Belgian search team.

"They are the only hope for my uncle to come home."

Full story with more photos here.

Happy Veterans' Day

A Veteran — whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve — is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount of “up to, and including his life.”

- Author unknown

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference... "

...the Marines don't have that problem."

- President Ronald Reagan, 1985


Happy Birthday, Marines!

Heroes Remembered

Im Memoriam:

1LT Matthew C. Ferrara, 24, of Torrance, Calif.
SGT Jeffery S. Mersman, 23, of Parker, Kan
SPC Sean K.A. Langevin, 23, of Walnut Creek, Calif.
SPC Lester G. Roque, 23, of Torrance, Calif.
PFC Joseph M. Lancour, 21, of Swartz Creek, Mich.
all of Chosen Company, 2-503rd PIR, 173rd ABCT
and Marine Sgt. Phillip A. Bocks, 28, of Troy, Mich.

Killed 9 November 2007 while conducting combat operations near OP Bella in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. Eight more Sky Soldiers and 11 ANA were wounded.

Eight separate air crews subsequently conducted what was to become a combined 31-hour medevac and recovery mission involving multiple lifts.

With gratitude to those CJTF-82 crews for their professionalism, selfless service and dedication to duty during our Heroes' final hours and to the AH-64 crews not only for their protection, but whose gun cameras documented this mission.



Related:
CJTF-82 Heroes of the Week
Why we fight: Because "all of humanity is our tribe", by Linda Ferrara
A Mother's Tribute

Welcome, new citizens

One-hundred eighty-six service members sit as brand new U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony at Al Faw Palace on Camp Victory, Iraq, Nov. 4, 2008. Photo by Pfc. Christopher Gaylord, Multi-National Corps - Iraq Public Affairs.

It's on

With love from Camp Dulab, Iraq

Thanks, guys. We love you too!