More Marines and Soldiers Pay the Ultimate Price in Afghanistan and Iraq

As we have increasingly reported in recent weeks and months, the casualty rate in Afghanistan has been climbing.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - As we have increasingly reported in recent weeks and months, the casualty rate in Afghanistan has been climbing and part of the group taking casualties are Marines.

In this report we offer the few details we know about three Marines and two Army soldiers who died in service to their nation.

Our forces in Iraq are not out of the woods by any means, but the count has greatly traded places when it comes to the number of servicemen and women being killed in combat and in non-combat related incidents.

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

Corporal Anthony L. Williams, 21, of Oxford, Pennsylvania, and Corporal Michael W. Ouellette, 28, of Manchester, New Hampshire, died March 22nd while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Anthony Williams and Michael Ouellette were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

The DoD identified another Marine Casualty yesterday; Lance Corporal Daniel J. Geary, 22, of Rome, New York, died March 20th while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.

Daniel Geary was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

A soldier serving in Afghanistan, Private first class Adam J. Hardt, 19, of Avondale, Arizona, died March 22nd, at Forward Operating Base Airborne in Wardak Province, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident.

Adam Hardt was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York.

The circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation, the Department of Defense reports.

A U.S. soldier supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom was killed March 16th in Baghdad. Specialist Gary L. Moore, 25, of Del City, Oklahoma, lost his life from wounds sustained when an explosive device struck his vehicle.

Gary Moore was assigned to the 978th Military Police Company, 93rd Military Police Battalion, Fort Bliss, Texas.