War Casualties Mounting in Iraq & Afghanistan

Eight more Americans and one Egyptian employee of the U.S. government pay the ultimate priced in the war theaters overseas.

Photos of the individuals listed in this report courtesy: MySpace, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, militarycity.com, news4jax.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are showing no signs of slowing down, as we complete the costliest month for U.S. troops since last September.

The Department of Defense has in recent days announced the the deaths of soldiers, airmen and a sailor who were supporting Coalition operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Specialist Marko M. Samson, 30, of Columbus, Ohio, died May 31st in Tikrit, Iraq, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident.

He was assigned to the 277th Aviation Support Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York.

Private first class Samuel D. Stone, 20, of Port Orchard, Wash., died May 30th in Tallil, Iraq, of injuries suffered during a non-combat related vehicle roll-over.

He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment, Bremerton, Washington.

Private Bradley W. Iorio, 19, of Galloway, New Jersey, died May 29th at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident May 27th in Tallil, Iraq.

He was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Specialist Chad A. Edmundson, 20, of Williamsburg, Pennsylvaniz, died May 27th in Baghdad of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit while on a dismounted patrol.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry, 56th Stryker Brigade, Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

Maged M. Hussein, 43, of Cairo, Egypt, died May 25th in Al Taqaddum, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his convoy vehicle in Fallujah, Iraq.

He was employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, Jacksonville, Florida.

Mr. Husseiin is the first civilian in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to die in the Iraq War. He began working for the Corps' Jacksonville district in 2003 as a senior computer modeler in West Palm Beach.

Army 1st Sergeant Blue C. Rowe, 33, of Summers, Arkansas, died May 26th in Panjshir Province, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

He was assigned to the 426th Civil Affairs Battalion, Company D, Airborne Special Operations, stationed in Upland, Calif. He served as a military policeman in Korea, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from September 2004 through July 2005.

Commander Duane G. Wolfe, 54, of Port Hueneme, California, died May 25th from injuries suffered as a result of an improvised explosive device attack on his convoy southeast of Fallujah.

Duane Wolfe was assigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division in Iraq.

A lifelong military man, Commander Wolfe joined the Navy at age 17. Those who knew him, say Commander Duane Wolfe was a man who loved his family and his country. He served both of them proudly.

The Department of Defense announced the death of two airmen who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

They died May 26th near Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device.

Killed in the attack was Lieutenant Colonel Mark E. Stratton II, 39, of Houston, Texas.

He was assigned to the Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C. Mark Stratton graduated from Foley High School in Foley, Ala, and from Texas A&M University in December 1991 with a degree in Political Science. While at Texas A&M, he was a member of Squadron 1 in the Corps of Cadets.

Senior Airman Ashton L. M. Goodman, 21, of Indianapolis. Indiana also died in the attack.

She was assigned to the 43rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina.

On her MySpace page, Ashton Goodman said this about her general thoughts on the world: "The intricate way that the world is precariously balanced, parrots, frogs, tattoos, clean underpants, a renewed interest in weapons, octopi, the moon, sky and stars, moss, snails, rain, off roading and good food."

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.
Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), the first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several other awards including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.
You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com