The loss of our young men and women to war is always a painful reality, but tonight the pain is offset a bit by the fact that another of our missing has now been found. Two of those honored tonight are US Marines who died recently in Afghanistan. The third was a US soldier who died over 59 years ago in North Korea.
- Marine Staff Sergeant Jordan B. Emrick who was from Illinois
- Marine Lance Corporal Randy R. Braggs who was from Arizona
- Army Corporal Floyd E. Hooper who was from Colorado
Staff Sergeant Jordan B. Emrick
Jordan B. Emrick grew up in Hoyleton, Illinois, which is about 60 miles southeast of St. Louis. While a teenager, he did farm work at the 3,000 acre Kasten Farm. According to the Chicago Tribune:
Nathan Kasten, who owns the farm with his father and brother, said Emrick was so dedicated that he would work until 7 p.m. on a Friday, ski all night at a resort near St. Louis, not sleep a wink and show up for work again at 5 a.m. the next day.
"He was absolutely full of energy, never complained," Kasten said, adding that Emrick also was an experienced sky diver...
Terry Emrick said he remembers well the conversation he and Emrick had when his son decided not to attend college, where he had planned to study pharmacy, and instead joined the service.
"He said he was afraid he'd bail out after a few years and wanted to have maturity first," Terry Emrick said.
Jordan joined the Marines after graduating from Nashville High School in 2002. He was an explosives expert assigned to the 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California.
October 10th Emrick had left the States for a seven-month stint in Afghanistan. This was his third deployment. Previous deployments had taken him to Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Not long before his third deployment overseas, Emrick was quoted by a 1st Marine Logistics Grouppublication when he attended the funeral of a fellow Marine.
Staff Sergeant Jordan B. Emrick was involved in combat operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. A roadside bomb exploded, resulting in Emrick being fatally injured and he died on November 5th. He was 26 years old.
Awards earned by Staff Sergeant Jordan B. Emrick include the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Afghanistan Campaign Medal and Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, NATO Medal, and a Navy Unit Commendation.
Among the survivors of Staff Sergeant Emrick are his parents, Terry and Dorie Emrick.
Flags flew at half-staff Monday in the tiny town of Hoyleton in honor of their fallen son. Styninger Funeral Chapel in Hoyleton, Illinois is handling funeral arrangements for Staff Sergeant Emrick.
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Lance Corporal Randy R. Braggs
Randy R. Braggs was from Sierra Vista in Arizona. He attended Buena High School in Sierra Vista and graduated in 2008. Braggs enlisted in the Marine Corps on March 23, 2009.
He was assigned to be a rifleman with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based at Camp Pendleton in California. He was deployed with the battalion to Afghanistan at the end of September for his first combat assignment.
On November 6th, Braggs was involved in combat operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, when he was killed. He was 21 years old. According to KVOA News:
Dan Ferguson is the Director of the Arizona VFW Riders. He said, "We've already notified riders from across the state and all of the organizations to stand by for an escort. People are talking to their bosses or getting ready to take scheduled or unscheduled time off in order to participate in this final escort process."
And he said the response has been same from nearly everyone; two words when and where.
Ferguson said, "Less than 1% of today's youth join the military. Those that join know they're going to war. They know there is a good chance they will die for this country. It is the least we can do to show honor and respect for him and for what he has done for us."
In his last Facebook post Braggs wrote, "I'm gone in less than 9 hours all I have to say is I love all of you just be safe and take care of each other and hope to talk to yall soon...."
Lance Corporal Randy R. Braggs’ personal service awards include the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and Afghanistan Campaign Medal. Funeral plans for him have yet to be announced.
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Army Corporal Floyd E. Hooper
During the Korean War, Army Corporal Floyd E. Hooper was fighting with his unit, the 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, against Chinese Communist forces in support of Operation Thunderbolt. The operation was intended to sweep and clear enemy forces occupying areas south of the Han River. Strong enemy forces supported by artillery fire forced his unit to withdraw to a defensive perimeter. Corporal Hooper was captured on February 4th, 1951, near Yangp’yong, Korea.
After the 1953 armistice, it was learned from surviving prisoners that Hooper had been held in a POW camp in Suan County, North Korea, and died of malnutrition and dysentery just a few months later, at the age of 27.
Army Corporal Floyd E. Hooper was awarded the Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge. When Hooper's remains had not been recovered, his name was inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii.
In the early 1990s, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 servicemen. North Korean documents turned over with one of the boxes indicated the remains were exhumed near Suan County. This location correlates with Corporal Hooper’s last known location.
Analysts from DPMO developed case leads with information spanning more than 58 years. Through interviews with surviving POW eyewitnesses, experts validated circumstances surrounding the soldier’s captivity and death, confirming wartime documentation of his loss. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used dental comparisons and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of his brother – in the identification of his remains.
Now that the remains of Army Corporal Floyd E. Hooper have been identified, they will be returned to his family, and he will be buried on November 13th in his hometown of Stratton, Colorado. The Patriot Guard Riders will be there to accompany him on his last journey home.
More than 2,000 servicemen died as prisoners of war during the Korean War. With this accounting, more than 8,000 service members still remain missing from the conflict.
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Helping our troops:
If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider Operation Helmet, or Fisher House. Donating to Netroots for the Troops provides care packages that make a real difference in a military person's life. To assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here. Also, you could visit:
When our veterans come back home, they need jobs. Look at the programs of Hire Heroes USA and Welcome Back Veterans to see if you can help out. The KINship Project has also been of help to our veterans and other Kossacks In Need.
Stop-loss pay is available for veterans. The deadline for this program is December 3rd. The compensation is also available to survivors.
About the IGTNT series:
"I Got the News Today" is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remind us of the sacrifice of our US troops. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, noweasels, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, SpamNunn, a girl in MI, JeNoCo, Mediaprof, TrueBlueMajority, JanosNation, Proud Mom and Grandma, Ministry of Truth, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Ms Wings, maggiejean, racheltracks, JaxDem, and kestrel9000. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but are an important service to those who have died, and show our community’s respect for them.
Fallen service members whose names have been released by the US Department of Defense will usually be diarized two days after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner
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Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.