Olathe man identified as 1 of U.S. Marines killed in helicopter crash
The U.S. Marine Corps Friday identified a 21-year-old Olathe man as one of five Marines killed in a helicopter crash this week.
The Marines said Crew Chief Lance Cpl. Donovan Davis, 21, of Olathe; Sgt. Alex Langen, 23 of Chandler, Arizona; Capt. Benjamin Moulton, 27, of Emmett, Idaho; Jack Casey, 26, of Dover, New Hampshire; and Capt. Miguel Nava, 28, of Traverse City, Michigan, died when their helicopter crashed Tuesday in a remote snow-covered area in southern California.🕊️
#Military #RIP #USMC
Double amputee veteran Paratrooper Jon Harmon, who lost his legs serving Aghanistan with 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division prepares for the upcoming historic jump into Normandy to honor those who jumped before him.
Please help me honor Marine Lance Cpl. Dustin L. Sides he died May 31, 2004 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom
"He loved to make you smile, even if he was having a bad day himself," Lance Cpl. David L. Gerstenberg said with a small chuckle. "He was always ready to have fun any time of the day. Treated all people like equals, no matter what. A couple of times, I took him out for the weekend, and he stayed at my place. Every time I woke up in the morning, he had already made breakfast - mostly for himself, but he saved me some. And he said, 'Thanks for getting me out of the barracks, you know, same old routine.'"
Rest easy Hero 🇺🇸
Please help me honor Darrik Benson, DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6) Gold Squadron.
Darrik Benson was born on October 3, 1982, in Angwin California. He enlisted in the US Navy in 2001, and after completing SEAL training, he was assigned to SEAL Team 3 from June 2003 to September 2009. During this time, SO1 Benson deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom multiple times between 2004 and 2008.
His next assignment was with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) at Dam Neck, Virginia, from September 2009 until he was killed in action aboard a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, callsign Extortion 17, in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. Darrik Benson was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.
Not forgotten 🔱
Six years ago today, LCpl Lorenzo Mascarenas took his last breath.
Mascarenas enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 2018. He was serving with his unit at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside when he unexpectedly passed away.
We lost a true hero.
Dennis Boldt, a truly amazing man who touched so many lives. Please join us in honoring his memory. Dennis, you will be deeply missed.
God Speed, dear hero. 🫡
Please help me honor Army Sgt. Jeffrey R. Shaver, he died May 12, 2004 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom when his convoy vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Baghdad.
Mel Tonasket, a Colville Confederated Tribal Council Member, told stories about Shaver’s eight years on the reservation near Spokane, where he lived with his father, though they weren’t tribal members.
Shaver loved driving all-terrain vehicles, speed sledding, hunting, fishing and boating. As a teenager, he was quick to offer help looking for people missing near the reservation. And he had a way of making people around him feel comfortable
Please help me honor Marine Lance Cpl. John T. Schmidt III, 21, he passed while hospitalized in the Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, as the result of injuries suffered from a bomb blast in Iraq on January 30. John passed on this day but of 2005.
Schmidt was with fellow platoon members in an agricultural building near Fallujah when they came under attack, family members said at the time of his injuries. He suffered severe burns to his face and lungs when a mortar shell ruptured a tank of ammonia. “Johnny inhaled the ammonia and it burned his lungs,” said Richard Backlund, the Marine’s grandfather, “His lungs would not come back. He couldn’t breathe.”
Today we honor Senior Chief Kyle Milliken. DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6) Silver Squadron.
A Falmouth, Maine kid who ran track and field at the University of Connecticut, graduated in 2001, and enlisted in the Navy the following year with one goal: becoming a Frogman.
He earned his Trident, served at SEAL Teams on the East Coast since 2004, and was eventually selected for Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU/SEAL Team 6).
Across 15 years of service, Kyle conducted at least 48 combat missions in Iraq alone, including one in which he helped evacuate three wounded teammates while under fire. His decorations told only part of the story: four Bronze Stars with Valor, two Joint Service Commendation Medals, and a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Valor, among others.
On the night of May 4, 2017, Kyle and a small DEVGRU element from Silver Squadron, alongside Somali Danab commandos, were inserted into the village of Daarasalaam (Barii) on the Shebelle River, about 40 miles west of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their target was Mahad Karate, a senior al-Shabaab commander believed to be hiding in the village.
Kyle’s team moved silently through the town, leaving boot prints in the wet clay and at least five dead enemy fighters in their wake. As Kyle stood over two enemies he and his team had just engaged, an al-Shabaab fighter concealed beneath a low-hanging mango tree opened fire. Kyle was struck. The team conducted a hasty evacuation and medevaced him to neighboring Djibouti, but Kyle died of his wounds on May 5, 2017. He was 38 years old.
He was the first US service member to be killed in action in Somalia since the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, the running gunfight immortalized in the book and film “Black Hawk Down.” His family said it best in their statement: “He was a devoted father and son, a true professional, and a wonderful husband.”
Some warriors fall on a battlefield the world remembers. Kyle fell on one most Americans had forgotten. He was no less worthy of being remembered.
Ten years ago today, on May 3, 2016, Chief Petty Officer Charles Humphrey Keating IV was KIA in Iraq, while leading a quick reaction force to rescue fellow service members under assault by ISIS fighters.
A Navy SEAL with SEAL Team 1. A husband, son, brother, and teammate. A runner who came into the teams with a four-minute mile and an American flag bandana. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism, the nation's second-highest honor for valor.
He was 31 years old.
Please help me honor US Navy Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator SEAL Kyle Milliken, 38, of Falmouth, Maine.
Milliken died May 5, 2017, during an operation against the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab in a remote area west of Mogadishu, Somalia. He was assigned to a US East Coast-based special warfare unit.
Kyle was an amazing father, husband, son, brother, and friend, whose passion for life was contagious. He is survived by his wife, two children, father, mother, brother, and countless other family, friends and teammates.
Today is the 15th anniversary of the death of LCpl. Ronald D. Freeman. He was k¡ll€*d on April 28, 2011 while deployed in Afghanistan. His widow Katie was informed of his death while celebrating their daughter Katelyn's first birthday. Their newborn son William Douglas was only 10 days old.
Rest easy Hero 🇺🇸
101st Airborne Division veteran Ralph Maley faces the grave of his twin brother Rolan Maley, killed in combat at the age of 19 on D-Day in Normandy.
Ralph passed away in 2019 at the age of 95.
🇺🇸US Army Corporal Dustin Kendall was killed in action on January 15, 2006, while conducting combat operations in Baqubah, Iraq.
CPL Kendall served with the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
#USArmy#Military#Soldier
#TheIraqWar 🕊️
He survived four combat tours, but not the battle that came after.
Ryan Larkin, a decorated Navy SEAL, spent years breaching doors, firing explosives, and standing just feet away from powerful blast waves.
After returning home, something changed. Ryan experienced headaches, sleepless nights, memory loss, and other symptoms. The man his family knew slowly faded.
Diagnosed with PTSD, he was given medications, but never the answer he was searching for. “Something is wrong with my head,” he told his father.
In 2017, at just 29 years old, Ryan took his own life.
Only after his death did doctors discover the truth. Ryan had severe traumatic brain injury caused by repeated blast exposure.
His father said it best: “Ryan died from combat injuries, just not right away.”
Today, his story is a warning, and a mission. The invisible wounds of war are real, and some battles follow our warriors home.
Rest easy Ryan 🔱