Peter Todd Heuchling, better known as Todd was born in Dover, NH, and lived his entire life at his home on Adams Circle, Durham, NH, with his older brother, Rob, a Naval Reserve officer; his father, Bob, a retired Delta Air Lines captain and presently a high school coach and teacher; and his mother, Sally, a teacher, active volunteer and dedicated mom who now works with special education students at the local middle school.
Todd’s early childhood was very typical of a boy growing up in a small New Hampshire town. He enjoyed the woods, riding bikes, and playing sports with his friends. He was an average athlete as a young boy, although as he emerged from his preteen years, Todd experienced a metamorphosis. He rapidly grew taller and stronger and began to excel at every sport he attempted. By his sophomore year in high school, he was playing varsity soccer, hockey, and tennis. By the end of his senior year, his soccer team had won two state titles, and he was selected as Most Valuable Player in the state championship game by the coaches. His hockey team was always competitive but did not enjoy as much success. Nonetheless, he was awarded “Best Defenseman” his senior year.
As a gesture of respect and admiration for Todd, Oyster River High School has since retired his #18 hockey jersey. Todd also captained the tennis team and took it to the state finals, where the team lost by a single match.
As Todd began to mature physically, he also soared academically. He particularly enjoyed history, science, and writing for the school newspaper. At this time, he also began showing an interest in attending West Point. He read all the material he could find on the latest military hardware, tactics, and training. After his first visit to West Point, he realized this was to be his destiny and gaining admission became his top priority. He would probably feel it was the greatest accomplishment in his life.
In spite of the typical struggles as a plebe, he still managed to do well academically and militarily his first year. He was singled out as one of the top plebes in his class by the end of the first semester. He also helped coach the local girls’ under-14 soccer team, and he was a member of the Company D-4 Sandhurst Military Competition Skills Team.
At Camp Buckner he excelled by earning his Recondo badge. His fellow cadets at Buckner said you could always find Todd up among the leaders, but he was ever mindful to take care of his friends behind him. He always enjoyed running, but it was while at the Academy he took his running skills to a new level. He was invited to try out for the marathon team, since he was winning all the competitive company races.
It was hot and humid on the afternoon of 21 Aug 2003, the day that was to become the saddest day of our lives. It was the final day of tryouts for the marathon team, and Todd was not to be denied. Todd had an incredible ability to focus on a goal and put everything else out of his mind. At the end of the eight mile competition, Todd was running with the leaders when, less than 100 yards from the finish line, he collapsed and succumbed to heat stroke. He could not be revived.
Todd was laid to rest five days later in the Durham Town Cemetery. His body was accompanied by Commandant of Cadets BG Leo Brooks, 80 West Point cadets, and 500 family members and friends.
In his honor, a scholarship fund( Todd’s Trot) in his name has been established and will award $5,000 annually to a senior at Oyster River High School. An annual award also has been established and endowed to recognize an outstanding West Point team member.
His headstone reads:
Peter Todd Heuchling, Cadet,
USMA, Class of 2006,
Beloved son, brother, friend
and a good soldier.
His friends, bothers, parents, and fellow soldiers and classmates will forever remember him fondly.
Remembering SPC Justin Pellerin – KIA August 20, 2009 in Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division at Ft Drum, NY. He joined the Army in 2007 and was serving as an Infantryman.
Justin graduated from Concord High School and had an interest in the military. He joined the Army in 2007. He left for a tour of duty to Afghanistan in January 2009 and he was to return the following December. Justin married Chelsey, his high school sweetheart and “the love of his life” in July 2008. The couple planned to move to New York upon his return in December 2009. Josh Bisson, friend and best man at his wedding, described Justin as a funny man who loved American muscle cars and had decided to join the military in hopes of “doing something good” for other people. “He’d give the shirt off his back for anyone,” Bisson said. “Everyone he met he was friends with. He had no rough edges, everybody loved him.”
Justin was very outgoing and fun loving and enjoyed spending time with his family playing games, bowling, and singing karaoke. He also loved to explore the outdoors, fishing, and playing golf. He had a passion for music, electronics and cars.
Louis Chouinard, Justin’s grandfather, said the young soldier “had it in his mind that he wanted to make a difference, so that’s why he did what he did.” “He was just a great kid.”
Justin always took pride in what he did. Chelsey remembers his excitement in receiving the Combat Infantryman Badge, getting promoted to the rank of Specialist, and becoming a team leader within his unit.
Though he took his service seriously, he was still his usual lighthearted self and he managed to keep a sense of humor in Afghanistan. For Chelsey, his influence will always live on through changes he inspired in her. With him, she learned “to be myself, to be strong, to respect myself,” she said. “We always said, “I love you” and “be safe” and we never said “goodbye”. “To love and be loved is the greatest gift a heart can know. I feel so lucky to have Justin to love.”
Remembering Master Sgt Jared Van Aalst, KIA on August 4, 2006 during combat operations in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. To remember is to honor.
Following is from his mother, Nancy:
Jared entered the world on September 1st, (Labor Day) 1975.It was a labor of love. He arrived weighing 10lbs 9ozs. He was my biggest baby! He has proven himself to be one of the biggest men I have ever known or will ever know.
Jared was a real active child. He spent his young years as one of the police officers on “Chips” that television show. He rode his tricycle like a mad man. As he grew, he became an avid skate boarder, hiker, dirt-biker, skier and everything else that was a challenge for him. He actually skied the head wall at Tuckerman’s Ravine. He spent a lot of time hiking the trails of Mount Washington. We referred to him as our Sherpa boy. I knew I was in trouble when he got this big off road dirt bike. When he was in high –school he got his Chevy S10 pickup stuck on a sand bar in the Pemi. river. He was able to round up some friends and get it out. He took it to the automotive dept at PHS and that truck still ran!! Prior to going into the army, Jared took an interest in sky diving.
During Jared’s time spent at PHS, he became friends with Eric Vanek. He began to focus on his studies, sports and more important things. Jared went on to become captain of his wrestling team and a shared captain of the football team. His grades greatly improved and he took some advanced courses and graduated with honors. Jared and Eric formed a great bond that stayed with them long after school was over. After graduation from high school, Jared wanted to go to Venezuela as an exchange student. He had taken four years of Spanish in school and wanted to experience the culture. He was there for ten months. It was a wonderful experience.
Upon Jared’s return to the U.S., he applied for and was accepted at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. There he became involved in ROTC. After one year there, he decided he was going to become an Army Ranger. First he applied for and was accepted at West Point Academy. Due to the fact that a high school student-Doug DeCenzo had already been accepted from our Grafton County, Jared would have to wait a year. Well those of us that knew Jared knew he was not going to wait when he was on a mission. He enlisted as an Army grunt and fulfilled his dream. We had the honor to be at Hurley Hill when he graduated as a Ranger. His dad and I were able to pin his wings and Ranger tab. Our great sorrow was learning that Doug DeCenzo was killed by a car bomb in Iraq.
One last note. When Jared was killed, Eric Vanek came with the casualty assistance officer to inform us of Jared’s death. He is and always was one of the greatest blessings to Jared and our family. He was like a brother to Jared and we still think of him as family. He is a good NH boy and a proud member of the US Army. He spent several days with us and he was very comforting to us in our most extreme time of sorrow.
There is so much to say about Jared. He could sew, cook, and make lanyards for duck calls. He was an avid hunter, loved great wine, and had so many great friends. He was most generous to his family and friends.
He had met the love of his life, his widow Katie. She continues to respect his ideas and values. He left three beautiful children-Kaylie (9), Ava (3), and Hugh Jared, (1). He was a true warrior in every sense of the word. One of the best men I have ever known. He is a very highly decorated soldier and all of this information is available on line.
Thank you ever so much for honoring my son. Warm regards,
Nancy
Remembering Army Staff Sgt. Kyle R. Warren, KIA July 29, 2010 – serving during Operation Enduring Freedom. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.; died at Tsagay, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kyle Warren of Manchester, NH was killed when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device while on reconnaissance patrol.
Warren, a medical sergeant died from injuries suffered in the blast. He was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) and Fort Bragg, N.C. He was on his second deployment in Afghanistan.
Kyle was hard to miss, whether tearing down a rugby field or running toward a firefight through muddy poppy fields in Afghanistan. Though an intimidating bear of a man at nearly 6 feet 3 and 240 pounds, he was a fun-loving, warmhearted guy who made friends effortlessly with his disarming, sometimes goofball charm, friends and family said.
After graduating from Marina High School in Huntington Beach — going to college off and on, and playing lots of rugby — Kyle appeared to find his groove in life when he enlisted in the Army.
He joined the elite Special Forces as a medic, with plans to become a firefighter-paramedic or physician’s assistant when he left the service, and married his longtime New Hampshire sweetheart a year before he was killed.
“He really seemed to be on his way,” said his father, Del Warren of Long Beach. “He had just turned into a fine young man.”
Kyle and other members of his Special Forces unit had just finished meeting with town elders when they were attacked by small-arms fire, according to his father, who received a redacted Army report on the circumstances surrounding his son’s death. Warren and Holbrook were on an all-terrain-vehicle during the firefight when they were hit by the explosive, his father said.
Officials at the U.S. Army Special Forces Command said Warren and Holbrook were killed during a combat reconnaissance patrol. Warren had just arrived for his second deployment in the area, having earlier served in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“He was always top notch, and he took his job as a medic very seriously,” said friend Jay Daniel of Jeffersonton, Va., a Special Forces veteran who trained with Warren and served with him during his first deployment. “Kyle helped save lives, and he was always the first to volunteer if we had a mission.” Daniel said that, along with aiding other soldiers, Warren and other medics in Afghanistan provided healthcare for the elderly and sick during weekly town clinics. Warren also rushed to save the lives of two boys in Afghanistan nearly killed by an improvised explosive device, which had seriously wounded their arms and legs. “There are two boys walking around southern Afghanistan today because of Kyle,” said Daniel, who named his newborn son after his friend.
Warren’s former coach, Mark Rehling, said he remembers him more for the times he dropped by the classroom than for his play on the football field. Even after Warren graduated, he would occasionally pop in to say hello.
“He was very thoughtful. He was trying to find a way to really make things better; you could tell that was really engrained in his personality,” Rehling said. “He wanted to contribute in some way. When he joined the Army, it gave him a real vision forward.”
After graduation, Warren attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where he got his first real introduction to club rugby — a passion that followed him to Bedford, N.H., a few years later when he moved in with his mother (his parents had divorced years before). Friend and fellow rugby player Justin Veverka said Warren was one of the “hardest hitters I’ve ever seen.” “He was definitely one of the most feared guys in the New England Rugby Union,” he said.
Warren ended up sharing an apartment with Veverka and his brother in Manchester, attending classes at a local community college now and then, working at a hotel and playing lots of rugby. Manchester also is where Warren met his future wife, Sandy, when she was a student at Southern New Hampshire University. “Kyle was just this big goofy guy, a great person to be around,” Veverka said. “He was a big storyteller. Everything was about California. California this, California that. And I never saw a man eat so much Mexican food in my life.”
It was in 2004 when Warren, the Veverka brothers and another close friend — all somewhat adrift in life — decided to enlist together. “We all just looked at ourselves, at where we were at,” Veverka said. “The war just kicked off in Iraq, and we thought we’d all join up together.”
TO REMEMBER IS TO HONOR…
Remembering SGT Michael Roy – KIA on 7-8-09 – by a sniper during combat operations in Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Special Operations Advisor Group, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command,
Camp Lejeune, NC.
Roy joined the Marine Corps on Sept. 25, 2001 and was trained as a rifleman. He was promoted to Sergeant on Oct. 10, 2005, joining MARSOC on March 15, 2008. His decorations include a Navy Achievement Medal, a Combat Action Ribbon, a Navy Unit Commendation, three Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations, two Good Conduct Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, a Humanitarian Service Medal, four Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, and a NATO Medal-ISAF Afghanistan.
With nearly eight years in, 25-year-old Sgt. Roy joined the Marines young – real young. His decorations and his rise through the ranks tell us he served his country competently and well.
His joining the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command tells that he had no fear – or that fear didn’t matter. To become a MARSOC member, Sgt. Roy had to undertake and complete special forces training designed to “enable him to function in remote, ambiguous and complex environments with limited support,” according to the special unit’s Web site, which also outlines core duties that may be assigned. Those duties include training and assistance to foreign governments, security force assistance, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism and direct action, which the Corps defines as “short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions taken to seize, destroy, capture, recover or inflict damage in denied areas.”
TO REMEMBER IS TO HONOR…
