The other day we reported that a soldier had been killed in Logar Province, Afghanistan during combat operations. He has been identified by the Department of Defense as Sergeant First Class V Stephen B. Cribben, a 33-year-old from Simi Valley, California assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) according to Stars & Stripes.
Hondo told us that Frank Masoni’s remains had been identified last Spring from among those uncovered on Betio Island in the Tarawa chain. His brother Richard will be welcoming Frank home, according to the Gilroy, California Dispatch
Frank embodies the Marine Corps credo that every Marine is an infantryman – he was a cook when he accompanied the invasion force ashore assigned to Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division. He survived the first day, but not the second.
The government’s file on Masoni’s service and death includes copies of six hand-written letters sent by his mother to the government between 1944 and 1948, reminding officials that she was still waiting for his remains.
“I am very much interested in having his body returned home. Would appreciate all you can do,” reads a November 1946 letter from Frank Masoni’s mother to the General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C.
Frank Masoni didn’t have any children, but he has a large crew of surviving nieces, nephews and their families, many of whom still live in South County.
“The Masoni family can now have closure as we ponder the fact that freedom isn’t free,” Sandoval added.
Richard Masoni’s daughters said the return of his brother has been too emotionally overwhelming for him to speak extensively about it. But he said in a written statement delivered by Sandoval, “It’s been a long time and I’m glad it’s happening.”
The Missouri State Journal reports that Staff Sergeant Michael Aiello, who was killed during Operation Market Garden in September 1944 is finally on his way home to Springfield, Illinois. He was assigned to the 401st Glider Infantry Regiment. The 401st was attached to the 82d Airborne Division for the operation and after their landing in Holland spent the next 72 days in contact with the enemy.
On Sept. 25, 1944, Sgt. Aiello’s unit was ordered to seize the Kiekberg Woods, a forested area near Groesbeek in the Netherlands, which was near the bridge at Nijmegen. A report the Aiello family received from the military described the fighting in the woods as “ferocious.”
Little information is known about the events leading to Sgt. Aiello’s death. Military records indicate he went missing on Sept. 30, 1944. While no remains had been positively identified, military officials issued a presumptive finding of death on Oct. 1, 1945.
Three months later, in January 1946, American authorities retrieved unidentified remains from the Kiekberg Woods and buried them at a military cemetery in Belgium
About eight years ago, Aiello family members learned that a set of remains, possibly belonging to Sgt. Aiello, had been disinterred for identification. Military officials narrowed the search using the physical characteristics of the remains, and DNA samples from two Aiellos confirmed the identity.
Staff Sergeant Aiello will be interred at Camp Butler National Ceremony on October 28th at 10 AM.
From Stars & Stripes;
[PJ Staab II of Staab Funeral Home] said the funeral home is working with police and fire departments in Sherman and Springfield, the Illinois State Police and the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office to coordinate the procession. The Patriot Guard also will be in the procession.
Jim Sodaro, a Springfield resident and a member of Illinois Patriot Guard, is an Army veteran himself. He said they conduct processions out of respect for their fallen brothers and sisters.
“They deserve respect whether they were drafted or enlisted on their own free will. We are in a unique fraternity. It’s to show respect to them and their families for their unwavering service to this nation of ours.”
Republished from 2012;
Thirty four years ago today, 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers, were killed and sixty Americans were injured when a truck bomb disguised as a water truck penetrated superficial security at the Marine barracks in Beirut with about 12,000 pounds of explosives. Two minutes later, French barracks were struck resulting in in the deaths of 58 paratroopers from the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment and 15 others were injured. They were Multinational peacekeeping forces that had been in Beirut since the year before when Israeli forces drove Palestinians from it’s frontier with Lebanon.
On February 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Lebanon after some light shelling of suspected Shia positions and some brief French air attacks in the Bekkaa Valley. A raid on a camp where Iranian Revolutionary Guards were believed to be training Shia jhadists was called off by President Reagan because little evidence existed at the time that Iran was involved in the bombing.
The weak responses to the bombing by the US are believed to have emboldened jihadists around the world and contributed to the rise of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed extremists in Lebanon. Iran has since admitted it’s participation to the attack.
Michelle Malkin lists the casualties.
At Together We Served, they’ve posted an online memorial to the casualties that day. Stars & Stripes publishes some of the witnesses’ accounts of that day.
In 2004, Iran erected a memorial to the suicide bombers.
Chief Tango sends us a link to the Washington Post which reports on the funeral of 2nd Lieutenant George Bussa whose remains were lost after he was killed in the maelstrom of the amphibious landing on Betio Island. A year before, he was Platoon Sergeant Bussa on Guadalcanal where he earned a Silver Star;
After his platoon leader was evacuated for illness, Platoon Sergeant Bussa took command and personally led his platoon into action in the ravine west of Point Cruz and at all times fought bravely. Against heavy opposition the men under his leadership destroyed three enemy machine guns and other weapons. He accompanied the Company Commander and the Demolitions Officer into the enemy lines to locate targets. With the fire of his platoon he covered the demolition party while enemy positions were destroyed.
The Post tells of his final moments on Betio Island with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division;
He had a wife — and a baby girl he had never met — back in California and several brothers in the service.
As the platoon attacked, it was assailed by enemy soldiers inside the bunker. Bussa, who was 29, was killed, and his men were driven back. After the battle, his body was buried in a trench, but after the war, it could not be found and he was declared lost.
Hondo told us that his remains were identified back in April.
His baby girl, Jerilyn Heise, now 75 years old was at Arlington yesterday when 2LT Bussa finally made it home;
On Tuesday, 73 years after his death, Bussa’s body, recently recovered and identified, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery as his daughter, Jerilyn Heise, 75, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren looked on beneath a stand of towering Willow Oaks.
Thanks to the good folks at History Flight, with help from DPAA, they are bringing more of the Marines of Betio home;
Next week, another Marine killed at Tarawa, Cpl. Walter G. Critchley, 24, of New Rochelle, N.Y., is scheduled to be buried in Arlington.
On Nov. 14, a third Marine killed and lost in the battle, Cpl. Anthony G. Guerriero, 21, of Boston, is to be buried there.
And on Dec. 8, a fourth killed and lost at Tarawa, Archie W. Newell, 22, of Faith, South Dakota, is scheduled for burial there.
They say Tarawa, but the focus has been on Betio Island where more than a thousand, mostly Marines, were killed.
The fourth soldier killed in an ambush last week near the Niger/Mali frontier was identified by the Department of Defense as Sergeant La David Johnson, a 25-year-old from of Miami Gardens, Florida, assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. From Stars & Stripes;
Defense officials had disclosed the deaths of three other soldiers killed in the same attack. They were identified Friday as Staff Sgts. Bryan C. Black, Jeremiah W. Johnson and Dustin M. Wright. All were assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C.-based 3rd Special Forces Group. Black and Wright were Green Berets.
News of the fourth soldier’s death had been withheld until Friday, in hopes he would be found alive. Nigerian soldiers discovered Johnson’s body on Friday, following a search of the area. U.S. personnel recovered his remains the same day, the Pentagon said.
The Battle of Kamdesh, also known as COP Keating, was eight years ago today near the town of Kamdesh of Nuristan province in eastern Afghanistan. 8 Americans were killed in the fighting and 27 others were wounded. Four officers were disciplined for their failure to support the troops on COP Keating, eight aviators earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha and Staff Sergeant Ty Carter were awarded the Medal of Honor. From Military.com;
The Battle for COP Keating produced a constellation of medals: 27 Purple Hearts, 37 Army Commendation Medals with “V” devices for valor, three Bronze Stars, 18 Bronze Stars with “V” devices, and nine Silver Stars….The enemy death toll is estimated at between 150 and 200. Eight U.S. soldiers paid the ultimate price that day: Justin T. Gallegos of Tucson, Ariz.; Christopher Griffin of Kincheloe, Mich.; Kevin C. Thomson of Reno, Nev.; Michael P. Scusa of Villas, N.J.; Vernon W. Martin of Savannah, Ga.; Stephan L. Mace of Lovettsville, Va.; Joshua J. Kirk of South Portland, Maine; and Joshua M. Hardt of Applegate, Calif.
The battle quickly became hand-to-hand fighting with the US troops calling for supporting fires “Danger Close”.
It was dawn on Oct. 3, 2009, when nearly 350 Taliban-led insurgents attacked U.S. Army Combat Outpost (COP) Keating in the Kamdesh Valley of Afghanistan. Built on low ground in a river valley, the COP was home to fewer than 60 cavalrymen from Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division. They would confront the enemy in a 12-hour close-contact battle that nearly became hand-to-hand combat. Outpost security would be breached in three places. Fires set by the attackers would destroy the COP’s barracks. Close air support and mortar fire had to be directed at enemy forces inside the original security perimeter.
Editor’s Note: This is republished from 2008, but Operation Gothic Serpent was 24 years ago today. It’s lessons live on and we’re still waging a war that has it’s roots in that battle;
15 years ago today I lost a dear friend. Tim Martin and I showed up at the Reception Station in Fort Polk Louisiana – I won’t mention the year, the fact that they were still doing Basic and Infantry AIT at Ft Polk should be enough to narrow it down for you. He was a huge, quiet and friendly guy and I felt lucky that we were attached alphabetically through those 16 weeks. I can’t count the times that I’d stumbled and looked up to see his outstretched hand to help me up.
After those 16 weeks, four weeks together at the Basic Airborne Course in Georgia, then he went to the 2d Ranger Battalion at Lewis and I went to Fort Stewart (yes, the 1st Battalion was actually on Fort Stewart in those days). We went off in our separate directions for four years and we rarely saw each other, but each time we met, the conversation picked up right where it had left off the last time.
I’ve never met anyone who ever met him that had a bad word for him. He loved the Army, and later I learned he loved his family more.
I found out his final fate on October 18th, 1993 while I was leaving my last duty station as a retired soldier when I read the casualty list from what is now known as the “Blackhawk Down” fiasco and found his name.
I spent the next seven years trying to find out what happened to him. I became a member of the fine Paratrooper.net forum, run by my good friend Mark (back when Mark and I were the only participating members). As the forum grew, I put together bits and pieces of the story and some wonderful soul sent his wife Linda my way.
The movie Blackhawk Down did a great job capturing his personality and immortalizing his love for his daughters.
