Remembering SPC Jeremy Regnier 22, of Littleton, N.H.; KIA on Oct. 13, 2004 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol in Baghdad; assigned to the 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Jeremy hoped to become a helicopter mechanic and spend a career in the Army.

Jeremy called home weekly and had just celebrated his birthday in Littleton in August while home on a two-week leave. Jeremy joined the military in 2000, serving about six months in the New Hampshire Army National Guard before choosing to switch to active duty. He served a tour in Korea before going to Iraq. He had hoped to become a helicopter mechanic and spend a career in the Army. Relatives said his first deployment changed him.

He would give you the shirt off his back he would do anything for anybody.

Remembering Army CPL Nicholas Arvanitis, 22, of Salem, N.H.  assigned to 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Oct. 6 from injuries sustained when he encountered enemy fire in Bayji, Iraq.

Friends say that Nick had a lust for life that wasn’t easy to contain.  He rattled windows when he played guitar with his metal band, Thrall.  At concerts, he started most pits, slamming himself into the biggest guys he could find.  Even in defeat – when another wrestler pinned him or he struck out a bat – he kept a huge grin on his face.

 Nick was a paratrooper with the 82^nd Airborne Division; he had already served a combat tour in Afghanistan when he volunteered to return to Iraq in August of 2006.  “He wanted to be a major player in the war,” said his sister, Kim, who tried to persuade him to take a recruiting job he was offered after his first tour. “All he would say to me was, ‘I want to go with my guys.  I want to get them through this and get them home.’”  His friends say Nick loved being part of a team, whether it was the jazz band, the marching band, or the wrestling team.  He was not intimidated by challenges or sacrifices he had to make to be part of a group. 

He had hoped to pursue a career in music but after the terrorist attacks on 9-11-01, he felt compelled to enlist in the military.  “After Sept 11^th, Nick told me he had to do what had to be done”, said Robert Stickney, the father of one of Nick’s closest friends.  “He said the music could wait’.  His sister Kim said she should have guessed her brother’s future career when he was 5 – she caught him jumping off the top bunk bed onto a beanbag chair.  “I said, ‘Are you crazy?’ “she said.  He just grinned at her.  Kim, who joined the Air Force after high school, wasn’t the only one who worried when her brother announced he was joining the 82^nd Airborne, an infantry unit that frequently deploys to dangerous combat areas.  Ben Adams, a history teacher at Salem High and a former airborne soldier, remembers when Nick told him he had joined an airborne unit.  “He could see that I had significant concerns, “he said.  “In the 82^nd he was going to be in harm’s way.”  “He looked at me and said, ‘Its’ something I gotta do.’ “

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvCNWaurSXo

 

TO REMEMBER IS TO HONOR….

 

And when he gets to Heaven
To St. Peter he will tell:
‘One more Marine reporting, Sir — I’ve served my time in Hell.’

The Korean War has become America’s “Forgotten War,” and those who fought it have become America’s forgotten warriors.
REES LLOYD

NH Korean War Casualties

To Honor is to Remember….

“… In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces the US who served in the Vietnam War. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us.” —

Inscription at the beginning of The Wall.

New Hampshire Vietnam War Casualties

To Honor is to Remember…….