A Soldier and two Marines lost their lives while in service of their country on April 23rd of 2011. We are here to join in mourning the passing of three good men:
- Army Sergeant 1st Class Benjamin F. Bitner was from Maryland
- Marine Lance Corporal Dominic J. Ciaramitaro was from Michigan
- Marine Sergeant Sean T. Callahan was from Virginia
Sergeant 1st Class Benjamin F. Bitner
Benjamin F. Bitner was born on the 4th of July in 1973. He was a native of the small Maryland town of Hagerstown, which is near the Pennsylvania border. He graduated from Pennsylvania's Greencastle-Antrim High School in 1991.
Bitner was an 18-year career soldier in the US Army. He was deployed in various operations around the world, including four deployments to Afghanistan.
On his sixth tour of duty, he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. While he was in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan, insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device (IED). Bitner died from wounds suffered in the explosion on April 23th of this year. He was 37 years old.
According to Herald-Mail News site:
Greg Hoover, superintendent of the Greencastle-Antrim School District, said he has known Bitner’s family for many years. He was an assistant principal at Greencastle-Antrim Middle School when Bitner was a student there.
Hoover said he was in charge of student discipline while working as an assistant principal, and he recalled having Bitner in his office.
Hoover said he and Bitner were always able to work out issues, and on Monday afternoon he described Bitner as “just a good kid. I’d describe him as happy-go-lucky.”
When home, Bitner helped with Greencastle's Rescue Hose Company No. 1 and lived in North Carolina with his wife, April, and sons, Gunnar and Rogue.
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Lance Corporal Dominic J. Ciaramitaro
Dominic J. Ciaramitaro was from South Lyon, Michigan. He graduated from South Lyon High School in 2009. Ciaramitaro joined the Marine Corps right after graduation and deployed to Afghanistan in December of 2010.
Ciaramitaro was an antitank missleman assigned to 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was promoted to lance corporal January 1, 2011. According to WNDU News site:
The grandmother of Lance Cpl. Dominic Ciaramitaro says the 19-year-old Marine from Michigan loved adventure, and she told him his service in Afghanistan was the "greatest mission" of his life.
Ciaramitaro died Saturday during combat operations in Helmand province.
Susan Boston told The Associated Press Tuesday her daughter had traveled to Dover Air Force Base to meet the plane with her son's body. The family is working on funeral arrangements.
Ciaramitaro lived in suburban Detroit and graduated in 2009 from South Lyon High School. He played football, and Boston says Ciaramitaro was a coaches' favorite because he'd "rally everybody to victory."
On April 23, 2011, Ciaramitaro was working as the gunner in a 4-vehicle convoy in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. An improvised explosive device (IED) went off and killed the Lance Corporal. He was 19 years old. Also killed was Sergeant Sean Callahan.
Lance Corporal Ciaramitaro's awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
Those surviving Lance Corporal Ciaramitaro include his mother Debbie Beaupre, his father John and step-mother Lynn, his siblings: Salvatore, Holly Anne, Lucy, Elizabeth, Grace; his grandparents Sam & Marie Ciaramitaro and Susan Boston.
Memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 30th, at St. Clair of Montefalco Church in Michigan.
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Sergeant Sean T. Callahan
Sean T. Callahan was from Warrenton, Virginia. He was a Brentsville District High School Class of 2005 graduate and joined the Marine Corps in March of 2008. Callahan was deployed to Iraq from August 2009 to October 2009 and to Afghanistan in December 2010.
Callahan was promoted to sergeant in February of 2011. Callahan was an antitank missleman assigned to 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
He died April 23, 2011 while in a 4-vehicle convoy in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. An improvised explosive device (IED) went off, killing Callahan and Lance Corporal Dominic J. Ciaramitaro. The Sergeant was 23 years old.
An article at InsideNova.com quotes a family friend:
“He was an excellent guitar player. He used to play songs for me,” Harth said. “The last song he played for me was ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and he played it all the way through.”
Harth said Wednesday that he had just met with the Callahan family, who are planning their son’s memorials.
The family traveled Monday to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to meet the plane bringing their son home.
“The Marines took them up there and back,” Harth said. “[The Callahans] said it was the greatest service they could have ever seen.”
Sergeant Sean T. Callahan's awards include the Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
Those surviving Sergeant Callahan include his parents, Patrick and Janet Callahan, who now live in Warrenton.
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Helping our troops:
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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.