Obama Presents Medal of Honor to Sgt. Dakota Meyer

Medal of Honor (left to right) for Army, Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard, Air Force

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Thursday, President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor to former Marine Dakota Meyer of Greensburg, Ky., according to national media.

Meyer received the honor for saving the lives some 36 Marines, U.S. soldiers and Afghanistan military personnel during an ambush by insurgents in northern Afghanistan. He was 21 years old on Sept. 9, 2009.

Meyer, 23, is the first living Marine to get the honor in nearly four decades, according to reports by McClatchy Newspapers in the Sun Herald. The Medal of Honor is the highest military recognition by the United States government. It is awarded by the president in the name of Congress.

Michael Green Memorial 2011

GAUTIER -- January 07 this year marks three years for remembrance of Major Michael Lee Green, who was killed in Afghanistan during 2008.

Born April 6, 1971, Green was 36 years old when he died after a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle. Ironically, Green was training militia recruits how to detect and dispose of roadside bombs. Although he was serving in Afghanistan, he was stationed in Germany.

Green was returned to a hero's welcome and funeral services at First Baptist Church of Gautier, where residents in South Mississippi lined the roadway from his native city to the U.S. National Cemetery in Biloxi.

The Patriot Guard Riders helped with ceremonies at the funeral home in Pascagoula, church and funeral route to Biloxi.

See pictures from the day of the service at http://www.flounderwear.com/.

Read the official obituary at O'Bryant-O'Keefe Funeral Home in Pascagoula (4811 Telephone Road, Pascagoula.)

(http://www.obryantokeefe.com/)

Flying Jennies Train for Deployment to Afghanistan in January

The "Flying Jennies"



TSgt Dana Kelley of Ocean Springs prepares a parachute for an airdrop off an 815th Airlift Squardron Super Hercules airplane during a training mission Tuesday at Keesler Air Force Base. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan/The Mississippi Press)

A C-130J-30 at KAFB

Obama Meets Fallen Soldiers, Agents at Dover AFB

DOVER AFB, Del. -- President Obama arrived just before midnight Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Dover Air Force Base to meet 15 soldiers and three drug enforcement officers who died in Afghanistan on Monday, Oct. 26, according to media reports.

The dignified transfer was a 'sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices' of the military. -- President Barack Obama

During a solemn ceremony Obama stood in salute with military officers as flag-draped transfer case carrying the bodies were transferred from C-17 cargo airplane to waiting vehicles at the military base in Delaware. Earlier this year, Obama lifted the nearly two-decade-old ban on media coverage of the return of deceased soldiers to Dover AFB.

Only the family of Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin of Terre Haute, Ind., permitted media coverage of the dignified transfer of his body.

Obama met with family members of the fallen military and law enforcement personnel prior to the transfer ceremony. According to www.cnn.com, the president said 'the burden of war on U.S. troops and their families will "bear on how I see these conflicts" ' as he decides on whether to send as 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

The U.S. Army soldiers and drug agents were among 18 Americans killed this week in southern and western Afghanistan. The service personnel and agents died Monday in separate helicopter crashes. Eight others died Tuesday, Oct. 27, after improvised explosive devices hit their Stryker vehicles during separate incidents.

View photographs of dignified transfer at www.mortuary.af.mil.

According to www.abcnews.com, the three DEA agents killed were identified as 37-year-old Forrest Leamon and 30-year-old Chad Michael, both from Virginia, and 37-year-old Michael Weston of Washington. Weston, like Obama, was a Harvard Law School graduate.

Afghanistan War Anniversary

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan.

On Oct. 7, 2001, President George W. Bush made the announcement that U.S. military had begun bombing of mountain ranges in Afghanistan aimed at capturing and killing people -- namely al-Queda and Taliban members -- the U.S. considered responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and an intended attack on the White House.

Eight years later, President Barack Obama and military leaders are discussing strategy for the future warfare -- or not -- in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where Taliban and al-Queda fighters have sought refuge and taken over large areas of land and local populations.

Since 2001, as many as 8,000 military men and women have died fighting in Afghanistan, more than 230 of those during 2009.

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti

President Barack Obama awarded his first Medal of Honor on Sept. 17 posthumously to Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, who died in 2006 while trying to rescue a wounded soldier during a firefight in Afghanistan. The man and a medic later died when a helicopter cable snapped.

Media reports said Monti, of Raynham, Mass., was leading a patrol near the Pakistani border when they were attacked.

Portrait of Valor: Hero of Afghanistan, Sgt. Jared Monti Wins Medal of Honor Posthumously

Killed Trying to Rescue Injured Comrade Three Times, Soldier Receives Top Honor

abcnews.com Sept. 17, 2009

Media reports said members of the Army 10th Mountain Division who served with Monti attended the award ceremony. His parents, Paul and Janet Monti, accepted the Medal of Honor from Obama.

View photos of the ceremony at www.sunherald.com.

Six men have been awarded the Medal of Honor for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mural, Vet Pays Tribute to Fallen Soldiers

A traveling photo exhibit honoring Mississippi soliders who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq will be on display at Bancorp South in Gulfport then Biloxi until Sept. 21.

The exhibit includes American soldiers killed during WWII, and the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Mural Honors Fallen Mississippi Soldiers

www.wlox.com Aug. 24, 2009

Military Kids Grow Up Fast

Three high school students in different parts of the country tell their stories about life after mom or dad goes off to war. Check out this story at www.wlox.com(Aug. 20, 2009)

By Stephanie Chen

CNN Writer

(CNN) - In Pennsylvania, Tyler Dix, a 16-year-old movie buff, is wide awake by 7 a.m. to cook breakfast for his younger siblings. In Georgia, Tucker Simmons, a 14-year old novice guitarist, prepares ice packs for his mother whenever her chronic lower back pain kicks in. In California, Kaylei Deakin, an avid 17-year old rock climber, disciplines her little sisters when they act out. ...

Staff Sgt. Johnny Roosevelt Polk

A media report this morning has stated that Staff Sgt. Johnny R. Polk died Saturday, July 25, 2009, from injuries received while serving in Kirkuk, Iraq.

Gulfport Soldier Dies from Combat Wounds

www.wlox.com

Polk, 39, had been sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany for treatment of his injuries.

View www.patriotguard.org

According to the Department of Defense and Websites reporting on Sgt. Polk's death, he was struck by an anti-tank grenade while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Polk Died from Injuries Received in Iraq

www.sunherald.com

Polk was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Calgary Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

War on Terror: Gulfport soldier killed

messageboard.aol.com

A service will be held at Fort Hood before Polk is brought to Gulfport for burial.

Michael Green Memorial Highway Dedication

Numerous military and veteran organizations are expected to be on hand when a dedication ceremony is held in early April for the Maj. Michael Green Memorial Highway.

The dedication is set for 10 a.m. April 3 at the Gautier Convention Center, which is located next to the city's public library and community college.

Green, an Army major and Green Beret, was killed Jan. 7, 2008, by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. 

According to www.patriotguard.org, riders will meet Green's family at Singing River Mall to help escort them, along with the Mississippi Highway Patrol, to the dedication. 

Hundreds of residents from across Jackson County and other areas of South Mississippi braved icy wind and rain in 2008 to honor Green during his funeral procession along U.S. 90 in Gautier, part of the stretch of highway that will bear his name. 

According to The Press-Register at www.gulflive.com, the Maj. Michael Green Memorial Highway will extend from Oak Avenue near Gautier's east city limits to Shamrock Court, which connects with Library Lane where the Saturday dedication ceremony will be held. 

Maj. Michael Green

UPDATE: A ceremony is set for 10 a.m. April 3 to dedicate the Maj. Michael Green Memorial Highway, a stretch of U.S. 90 in Gautier. The dedication will be held at the Gautier Convention Center. 

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GAUTIER -- It has been a year this month since residents of Gautier and from across Jackson County braved freezing wind and rain to pay their last respects to fallen soldier Michael Green, a native of this city.

A 36-year-old Green Beret, the Army major died Jan. 7, 2008, in Afghanistan.  Green was killed when a roadside bomb, ironically, hit a taskforce on patrol to seek out bombs.  

Hundreds of people lined U.S. 90 as the funeral procession rolled from First Baptist Church that is across from Gautier Elementary School, where Green and his twin sister, Michelle, spent their early years.