Tribute to fallen soldiers.

[bababooey]

This was in the Ledger the other day. I found it moving.


Pushing past pain to honor a lost soldier

Fallen officer's wounded pal goes the extra mile in Holmdel memorial run
Monday, November 10, 2008 BY MARYANN SPOTO
Star-Ledger Staff


When Marion Zilinski heard her son's buddy planned to jog in a memorial run yesterday, she cautioned the Iraq War veteran against the idea.

But Capt. Dan Downs, still recovering from a severe gunshot wound, wouldn't be dissuaded. Two years ago, friends pushed him through the course in a wheelchair. Last year, he walked the two miles. So, as a personal challenge and a tribute to his friend, Downs wanted to run this year.



For Downs, a 28-year-old Army captain from Virginia, the third annual Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski II Memorial Run yesterday was not only a physical triumph, but also an emotional one.

"The mother in me wants him not to, because I don't want him to get hurt," Zilinski said two days before the run that pays tribute to her 23-year-old son, who was killed in Iraq on Nov. 19, 2005. "But then again, the mother in me knows he needs to do this for himself to honor his friend. That makes the mother in me so proud of him."

Downs said there was no question he'd run this year, two years after being shot in the lower left leg. The Zilinskis had become like his second family. He and Dennis, though two years apart at West Point, swam on the same team and Downs, then living in New Mexico, spent Thanksgivings at the Zilinski home.

"The point is, it's a run to honor Dennis. Dennis was an athlete. I'm an athlete. Athletes don't stop. They like pushing themselves, pushing their bodies," said Downs, now an Army ROTC instructor at the University of Virginia.

The run, held at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, is a primary source of income for the Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski II Foundation established by the family to help wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. So far, the foundation has doled out about half of the $200,000 it has raised to individuals and to programs helping soldiers adapt to their new lives.

Marion Zilinski remembered being impressed by Underwater Warriors, a program that teaches amputees to scuba dive. When she reached out to the coordinator, she discovered the program was successful in its mission but struggling financially.

"Maybe someday I can help," Zilinski told the coordinator last year, without letting on she planned to make a sizable donation.

For two years in a row, the foundation's contributions have kept the program afloat while staffers seek federal funding, Zilinski said.
Earlier this year, the Zilinskis learned of a soldier from Howell who lost both legs to an improvised explosive device in Iraq. The foundation paid the cost of renovating his bathroom to accommodate his disability.

"It's touched a nerve," said Karen Connors, chairwoman of the run. "People really see there's so much good that can come out of something so tragic."

The foundation also distributes two scholarships annually for Christian Brothers Academy in the Lincroft section of Middletown, the alma mater of Dennis and his younger brother, Matthew, who has followed in his footsteps.

Matthew Zilinski was a senior at Norwich University, a military college in Vermont, when Dennis was killed. Yet he continued with his plans for military service. A member of the Army National Guard, Matthew Zilinski, now 24, is a 1st lieutenant with the 508th Military Police Co. in Teaneck.

The memorial run, expected to draw anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 participants, is the Zilinski family's way of paying tribute to the sacrifices of soldiers.

"My parents lost a son. I lost my brother. I lost my best friend," Matthew said. "On the run, you can see how much pleasure and how much life we're putting out in my brother's name. We're supporting all these other people. We're giving them a new life, a new beginning. We're giving them something to make their life that much easier. It's in the name and honor of my brother."

[clamchucker]

Kentuckian killed in Vietnam 40 years ago is finally put to rest in Arlington

Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:34 am


WASHINGTON — It has been 40 years since Maj. John Lee McElroy's C-130 transport plane was shot down from the Kham Duo airstrip in the Quang Tin Province of Vietnam.

In that time, the Kentuckian's son, Russell, who was barely in his teens when his father died, has seen far more years than his father ever did. The major's daughters Linda and Mary, young girls when their father went to war, are married and have careers.

*
External Link Arlington National Cemetery

He has nine grandchildren that he'll never meet. And his wife, Regina, died several years ago without ever getting the chance to lay to rest her husband, who was from Eminence in Henry County.

But sometimes the ones we've lost come back ... even if in the most unexpected ways.

On a cold, gray Thursday, the McElroy family gathered at Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C., to honor the Vietnam veteran whose body had been missing for nearly half a century but whose remains were recently recovered. It was a solemn affair and family members braced themselves against the winter chill as soldiers in dress uniforms honored a fallen comrade.

Behind them rows and rows of headstones dotted the winter landscape, stretching back as far as the eye could see.

"The last time I saw him he was flying out from Fayette County Airport in Lexington. He hugged me and said, Russell you need to take care of your mother and sisters," said Russell McElroy, who lives in Bowling Green.

The Air Force officer's last days were spent a world away in a place where the trees had exotic names and the air was hot and smelled of creosote.

American soldiers had spent several days defending their position, on a narrow grassy plain surrounded by rugged jungle, from a near-constant deluge of gunfire and grenade attacks. Officers decided to extract troops after the North Vietnamese Army launched an attack on the main compound. Napalm, cluster bomb units and 750-pound bombs were hurled into the final wire barriers, according to military records.

During the evacuation, panic ensued.

"As more infantry tried to clamber into the outbound planes, the outraged Special Forces staff convinced the Air Force to start loading civilians onboard a C-130, then watched as the civilians pushed children and weaker adults aside," records show.

The crew of that U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft included McElroy, the navigator; Maj. Bernard Bucher, pilot; Staff Sgt. Frank Hepler, flight engineer; 1st Lt. Steven Moreland, co-pilot; George Long, loadmaster; Capt. Warren Orr, passenger; and an undetermined number of Vietnamese civilians.

The North Vietnamese Army forces fired on the plane and it exploded in midair and crashed roughly a mile from camp. The plane burned quickly and was destroyed—save for a portion of the tail.

All crew and passengers were thought to be dead.

That was on a Sunday, Mother's Day. McElroy's wife and family members waited a day to tell his three young children that their father had died.

"For a long time, me and my sisters believed and hoped that this was just an accident and that my dad was alive. It took us a while to overcome that," Russell McElroy said.

Years later, a grief-stricken son pointed his new motorcycle eastward along the Blue Ridge Parkway and sped through icy evening rains toward Washington D.C. and a memorial wall where his father's name, along with thousands of others, is etched in the black granite.

"The next day was beautiful and it helped get my heart right to see my dad and all those other veterans," he said.

Gov. Steve Beshear ordered flags at all state office buildings lowered to half-staff on Thursday. As family members return to Kentucky, where their ancestors have lived for generations, where they last waved goodbye to their loved one, the McElroys take comfort in knowing that at last their father has come home.

Another account:

Servicemen MIA From Vietnam War are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the group remains of six U.S. servicemen, missing from the Vietnam War, are soon to be buried with full military honors.
They are Maj. Bernard L. Bucher, of Eureka, Ill.; Maj. John L. McElroy, of Eminence, Ky.; 1st Lt. Stephen C. Moreland, of Los Angeles; and Staff Sgt. Frank M. Hepler, of Glenside, Pa., all U.S. Air Force. These men will be buried as a group on Dec. 18 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

Two other servicemen, who were individually identified in October 2007, are also represented in this group. They are Capt. Warren R. Orr Jr., U.S. Army, of Kewanee, Ill., and Airman 1st Class George W. Long, U.S. Air Force, of Medicine Lodge, Kan.
Representatives from the Air Force and the Army mortuary offices met with the next-of-kin of these men to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Air Force and the secretary of the Army.
On May 12, 1968, these men were on board a C-130 Hercules evacuating Vietnamese citizens from the Kham Duc Special Forces Camp near Da Nang, South Vietnam. While taking off, the crew reported taking heavy enemy ground fire. A forward air controller flying in the area reported seeing the plane explode in mid-air soon after leaving the runway.
In 1986 and 1991, U.S. officials received remains and identification tags from sources claiming they belonged to men from this incident. Scientific analysis revealed they were not American remains, but it was believed the Vietnamese sources knew where the crash site was located.
In 1993, a joint/U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), traveled to Kham Duc and interviewed four local citizens concerning the incident. They led the team to the crash site and turned over remains and identification tags they had recovered in 1983 while looking for scrap metal. During this visit, the team recovered human remains and aircraft wreckage at the site. In 1994, another joint team excavated the crash site and recovered remains, pieces of life-support equipment, crew-related gear and personal effects.
JPAC scientists used forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence in the identification of the remains.



Although it's sad news, it's good to finally bring closure to these families. The guys from the Vietnam war do not always get the recognition they deserve.

[dogfish]

IRAQ: Slain Marines awarded Navy Cross

Two young Marines will be posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for stopping a terrorist attack on a Marine and Iraqi police outpost in Ramadi and saving dozens of lives, the Marine Corps announced today.
Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19, of Sag Harbor, N.Y., and Cpl. Jonathan Yale, 21, of Burkeville, Va., were standing guard on April 22 when a truck filled with 2,000 pounds of explosives barreled toward the outpost's main gate.
Haerter and Yale, following Marine training, fired at the truck. As the truck rolled to a stop, it exploded, killing the pair, demolishing a nearby mosque and house, and leaving a crater 20 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep.
Security film showed that the two Marines never flinched as they continued to fire at the truck, according to an investigation by the Marine Corps. "Both Marines were killed still firing their weapons," said Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top Marine in Iraq.
Three Marines, eight Iraqi officers and 24 civilians -- all more than 100 yards from the blast -- were injured. An additional 50 Marines and dozens of Iraqi police officers, in a barracks farther from the gate, were unhurt.
"I have a son back home, and I know if that truck would've made it to where it was going -- I wouldn't be here today," Lance Cpl. Lawrence Tillery said after the attack. "Because of Lance Cpl. Haerter and Cpl. Yale, I will be able to see my son again. They gave me that opportunity."

Haerter was with the 1st Battalion, 9th Regiment; Yale with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment. Both were attached to Regimental Combat Team One from Camp Pendleton. Yale’s family said he was within weeks of coming home.
The Navy Cross is the nation's second highest award for bravery by Marines or sailors in combat. While there have been other Navy Cross awards during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the bravery of Haerter and Yale was unusual because it was captured on film and seen by numerous witnesses.
"For their dedication, they lost their lives," Kelly said at the Marine base in Al Asad. "Only two families had their hearts broken on April 22 rather than as many as 50. These families will never know how truly close they came to a knock on the door that night."
-- Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq

[DarkSkies]

This is a great thread, I found a link to a site that has stories of most of the fallen soldiers.
http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2007...u2526493.shtml



Also, great job for those who are still helping the ones who are alive, like Mike Nashif's program Take a Soldier Fishing. I'm registered on that site, any active military contact me in the spring or summer it you want to go fishing from the surf.

www.takeasoldierfishing.com

[jigfreak]

SFC Ron Wood - KIA - Operation Iraqi Freedom



My father and I visited the grave site of SFC Ronald Wood who was killed in Iraq on 16 July 2005. Ron and I served together in the same unit in Iraq. While clearing away the weeds and debris around the headstone, we discovered a dog tag left there by another soldier who deployed with us. So following in his steps I left one of my dog tags. Additionally, I left, as the first dog tag on the wire loop we constructed, a 'Warrior First' dog tag our unit created in memory of Ron and given to us the day of his memorial service in Iraq.

I invite others who visit this site to leave one of their dog tags as well, placing it behind the previous one, as a growing memorial to our friend Ron.


What follows below is a transcript of the email I sent home just days after Ron was killed. It portrays intimately the feelings of that time. Please read with respect.


22 July 2005
FOB Warrior
Kirkuk, Iraq

As most of you have heard by now, Saturday the 16th of July was a very tragic day for the Boys of Bravo Battery. SFC Ron Wood was killed by a roadside bomb called an IED (improvised Explosive Device). I had seen Ron and his crew just before their convoy left not over an hour previously. I was working in the TOC (Tactical Operations Center) when I overheard the radio traffic about a convoy being hit on the same route they were on. They were traveling with another unit so I wasn't in direct radio contact with them. I was able to determine they were stopped in the same area but not if they were involved.

My first thoughts were hopes for it to be just like previous times where an IED exploded but doesn't cause any casualties or just delivers minor damage to a vehicle. It soon became apparent, however, that this time would be different. There was a call for a MEDIVAC chopper and reports of three casualties. The term casualty is used generically for anyone injured or killed. By now the command leadership was all in the TOC monitoring the radio traffic for more details.

Within a few minutes the units on scene reported one KIA (Killed in Action) and two WIA's (Wounded in Action) and that Battle Roster numbers would follow. Battle Rosters are identification numbers assigned to every soldier. As they read the first Battle Roster number, two people wrote it down while I checked it against our list. As soon as they got it out, we knew SFC Wood had been killed. My heart sunk and we were all stunned with the realization our worst fear had just been realized. Two more Battle Rosters were read indicating SGT Chris Olsen and SPC Eric Lund.

Saturday night we had a chance to view Ron's remains during which the Chaplain offered words and prayer. A 'family' prayer from a fellow soldier and comments from the First Sergeant were also offered.

I feel the words of the 1SG brought comfort to many of us. SFC Wood was the epitome of what a soldier should be. Ron was more than just physically strong, he was well built, a result of years working out in the gym. He understood the Army and how it works, due in part to working full-time for the Guard, for how long I’m not sure. He had one previous deployment experience with the Triple Deuce when they were schedule to go to Iraq but ended up in Fort Lewis training ROTC. Ron was a gifted leader of soldiers, understanding how to motivate and lead in ways his men wanted to follow. They were loyal to him and would follow him anywhere. ISG Martinez said he lived his life by the Soldier’s Creed and gave his life defending that creed:

SOLDIER’S CREED

I am an American Soldier.

I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills. I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself. I am an
expert and I am a professional. I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy
the enemies of the United States of America in close combat. I am a
guardian of freedom and the American way of life.

I am an American Soldier.

1SG Martinez has a phrase he repeats so often it’s almost become our official slogan: Do The Right Thing! SFC Wood was a warrior who did the right thing. Even in his death, he was doing all the right things. In my opinion, as well as other’s, he was the very best soldier of Bravo Battery.

Sunday morning there was a 'ramp side' ceremony. This is where Ron's remains in a flag draped coffin were carried from the FLA (military ambulance) to the C-130 aircraft flown in to take him home. It's a formal ceremony which all available personnel attend; I estimate roughly a thousand Army and Air Force personnel were there. I had only been to one before, that for SPC French, a female soldier from Idaho belonging to the 145th Support Battalion in our 116th Brigade. It was very solemn and touching.

The ramp side ceremony for Ron was even more touching because he was one of ours. After a group of Bravo Battery soldiers retrieved Ron's casket from the FLA, the chaplain offer his first prayer. 'Present Arms' is sounded and we all salute as the casket is then carried between the ranks of soldiers and airmen and past the color guard to the waiting aircraft. The casket bearers stopped at the bottom of the aircraft ramp and the chaplain offered a final prayer, this time a reading of the 23rd Psalms. The casket is then walked onto the plane and the bearers offer a final salute then march off. The aircraft loadmaster formally accepted the remains and the ceremony was finished.

Then it was time to say goodbye. Not a word was said but we all followed as commander slowly walked to the tail of the aircraft, pausing to say a final goodbye to Ron. For a moment I stood to the side of him, my emotions overwhelmed as my eyes filled again with tears, and said my goodbye. I stood at attention, saluted, then moved away.

For the first two days we stood down all operations and patrols, using this down time to regroup and mourn the loss of our brother in arms. On Thursday a formal memorial service for Ron was held during which tributes were given, a final roll call for the soldier, a moment of silence, a 21-gun salute, the playing of Taps and the traditional empty boots, dog tags and an inverted rifle with a helmet on top to represented the fallen comrade.

Ron did not lose his life in vain. Our cause here is still just. History will look back on Operation Iraqi Freedom and judge it a major milestone in bringing peace to this region and an increase freedom from the terrorist intent on tormenting the United States. I am now more resolved to make sure my little part counts in hopes doing so will help Ron’s life to have not been lost in vain.

Since I have deployed to Iraq I have consistently worn a red band given me by the Brett and Zell Allred, the parents of Lance Cpl Michael Allred, a friend of mine from Cache Valley was killed in Falluja last September. The words “Life – Liberty – Freedom” are etched into the band as a constant reminder of what he died for and what I fight for. Yesterday after the service Ron, we were each given a single dog tag with the following on it:

WOOD RONALD T.
SFC
16 JULY 2005
WARRIOR FIRST

I will carry this in memory of SFC Ronald Wood who gave his life that each of us, along with the people of Iraq and America, may indeed have life full of liberty and freedom.

[clamchucker]

Another young fellow we lost recently. Thoughts and prayers to his family.



http://www.app.com/article/20090307/...NTPAGECAROUSEL
Family, friends honor fallen soldier

Soldier from Union Beach is laid to rest



Corporal Brian M. Connelly (Handout photo)



By CHRISTINA VEGA • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • March 7, 2009



Family, friends and loved ones of Corporal Brian M. Connelly paid their final
respects this morning during a memorial service and burial for the fallen soldier.


An overwhelming crowd of about 200 people attended the service at Day Funeral Home in Keyport to honor the Union Beach resident's memory. The procession continued to Forest Green Park Cemetery where Connelly was laid to rest with full
military honors.



"Indeed, no one has a better love than this, to lay one's life on the line for others. Brian has done just this," said Col. Mark Farnham, the Army chaplain who led the memorial service.

Connelly, a 26-year-old combat engineer with the Army, died Feb. 26 in Baghdad, Iraq, after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. A 2000 graduate of Red Bank Regional High School, Connelly joined the Army in the fall of 2007.

"He was a rock to all of his friends," said Jules Wagner, a friend of Connelly's who gave a eulogy at the service.

Just hours before he was killed, Connelly told his wife of just five months, Kara Connelly, 23, that his tour was shortened by three months and he would return in May to Baumholder, Germany, where his battalion is based.

Connelly was slated to return home to the United States in January 2010.

[plugginpete]

This thread is amazing. What a wonderful tribute to the people who served their county and gave their lives.


Army Sgt. Daniel J. Thompson

24, of Madison, Wis.; was a member of the Individual Ready Reserve and was assigned to the 715th Military Police Company, Florida National Guard, Melbourne, Fla.; died Feb. 24 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Capt. Brian M. Bunting, Sgt. Schuyler B. Patch and Sgt. Scott B. Stream.





Soldier from Madison killed in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

PORTAGE, Wis. — A 24-year-old soldier killed in Afghanistan loved cars, playing hockey and his motorcycle, his family said.
Army Sgt. Daniel James Thompson of Madison was the lead driver in a convoy when he was killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, said his mother, Lisa Thompson of Portage.
“I was proud of my baby. He never disappointed me. He always smiled. I’m very proud of him,” Lisa Thompson told the Portage Daily Register.
The Defense Department said Thursday three other soldiers, from Maryland, Oklahoma and Illinois, also died in the blast.
Thompson was a member of the Individual Ready Reserve assigned to the Florida National Guard’s 715th Military Police Company headquartered in Melbourne, the Pentagon said.
Thompson belonged to the Wisconsin National Guard until 2007, when he was placed on inactive status until he was called back for duty in Afghanistan with the Florida company, said Lt. Col. Ron Tittle, a Guard spokesman in Florida.
Thompson is the eighth soldier or Marine from Wisconsin to die in fighting in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led offensive ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001.

[ledhead36]

Though it is a sad reality that no one wants to see. Bush tried to hide the devastation by banning the press from fallen soldiers being transported home. By reporting this it gives the American people time to honor a man who defended their country.


'Dignified transfer' in front of the cameras: Welcome the fallen home with honor

Posted by Dan Murphy/ The Star-Ledger April 07, 2009 5:51AM

Categories: Policy Watch
Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerDOVER, Del. -- A US Air Force 'Carry Team' remove the remains of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers of Hopewell, Va., from an aircraft during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base. Myers was killed April 4 in Afghanistan, after being hit with an improvised explosive device, the Department of Defense said.

The photos captured the solemnity of the moment: a fallen member of the service being returned to his country.
The body of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers of Hopewell, Va., arrived Sunday night at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The flag-covered casket bearing his remains was taken from a cargo plane by a team of eight servicemen and women in a silent ceremony known simply as a "dignified transfer."

Before 1991, the return of the nation's war dead from overseas was often the subject of news coverage, but during the Persian Gulf War that year, President George H.W. Bush banned the media from these ceremonies. The stated intent was to protect the privacy of the families of those killed in action.


Grief is private, but death in the service of the nation is a loss shared by every citizen. For the media to bear witness on behalf of the public to the sacrifice of one of its service members honors that sacrifice and reminds us all of the human cost of war.
The sensitivities of the survivors have not been set aside. The new policy adopted earlier this year by Defense Secretary Robert Gates allows family members to decide whether the return of a loved one will be open to the media. Gates was right to put an end to the outright ban.

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the ban itself had become a political issue in the debate over the war and American foreign policy. To many, it seemed part of an effort to downplay the casualties and sanitize the public perception of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) pushed unsuccessfully for legislation to lift what he called the "shroud of secrecy." The senator welcomed Gates' change of policy in February, saying: "We should honor -- not hide -- flag-draped coffins. They are a symbol of the respect, honor and dignity that our fallen heroes deserve."
Sunday night's transfer of the body of Myers was indeed conducted with dignity. About 30 members of the media were present to record the event, which took place in silence except for a prayer said by a chaplain. Under the military's ground rules, the journalists also were silent, and no camera flashes were used.
A second soldier's body had arrived on the same aircraft, but that family had not given permission for coverage, so its transfer was conducted without the media present, CNN reported.

The wishes of any family that chooses to decline coverage should be respected. To the family members of Sergeant Myers, we owe thanks for his service and for being allowed to share in grieving their loss.

[bababooey]

Though it is a sad reality that no one wants to see. Bush tried to hide the devastation by banning the press from fallen soldiers being transported home. By reporting this it gives the American people time to honor a man who defended their country.

I don't necessarily agree that Bush was conpletely responsible. He had a lot of military advisors helping him make that decision. However, I agree with full disclosure. We should be able to see those coffin pics of those kids who paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives.

[DarkSkies]

This soldier wasn't killed in action, he made it home. But he did get awarded a Purple Heart for saving the life of another soldier, and I wanted to put something up about him here.

His name was John Flue, and he died this week. He was no relation to me, but we kinda adopted his family, and got close to them over the years.

He got the Purple Heart at Heartbreak Ridge in Korea, when he pulled another soldier down into a foxhole to save him as they were being rained on by mortar fire. He saved that soldier's life by his quick thinking, and got his arm ripped up by the explosion as a result.

So they awarded him a Purple Heart, which sat home buried in his attic. He never bragged about it, and talked about it only if asked a specific question when people said they heard he got one. He was a very humble guy who thought nothing special of his service to our country. It's what guys did at the time, and in his mind he was no different that anyone else, just a job to do to keep us safe.

A little about Heartbreak Ridge:

The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge was a month-long battle in the Korean War fought between September 13 and October 15, 1951. The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge was one of several major engagements in an area known as "The Punchbowl", which served as an important Communist staging area. The United Nations first initiated limited operations to seize the high ground surrounding the Punchbowl in late July.
The battle site is located in the hills of North Korea a few miles north of the 38th parallel north (the prewar boundary between North and South Korea), near Chorwon.

Thanks for your service to our country, John. I'm glad I got to know you and your family. RIP, man.