Honor and Remember Cpl Matthew J. Stanley ~ a New Hampshire Hero

Honor and Remember Cpl Matthew J. Stanley

Date of birth: Dec 26, 1983
Date of passing: Dec 16, 2006
Matt was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas

Following is written by his Mom, Lynn:

Matt was a fun loving guy. Sometimes I think Matt’s whole purpose on this earth was to make people smile. He himself always had a smile on his face. Everyone who knew Matt will tell you about that smile.

I watched Matt mature from a young boy into a brave young man. His courage and bravery still astonishes me. He had a great love for his family and his country and a great zest for life. In my attempts to honor Matt, I remember to keep his fun loving spirit alive, his joy for life and his love.

In 2002, Matt graduated from Kingswood Regional High School where he was well known and well liked by his peer and teachers. He was outgoing and deeply proud and personal about his two tours of duty in Iraq. He always had a good circle of friends.

He was the type of kid that everybody wanted for a friend Matt had been married less than a year Matt married his beautiful wife Amy on December 31, 2005. Such a wonderful time for the whole family to be together. Little did we know that Matt would be gone before his first anniversary.

He was killed along with four others by an IED when the hummer he was in ran over it. That year he missed his birthday on December 26 and his anniversary. Matt is dearly missed by his family and be everyone who knew him.

 

 

Honor and Remember Cpl Nevin Moreira a NH Hero

Honoring and remembering Cpl Nevin Moreira- Died 12-14-2007 died as a result of service to our country. He served 2 tours in Iraq with the Stryker Brigade from Ft. Lewis, WA.

Please pray for his Mom, Joanne, and his family and friends. May God be with them especially today and give them comfort, strength and precious memories of Nevin. He loved his family and friends and was always defending those who couldn’t defend themselves. Joanne recalled a time that Nevin told her about being in the midst of combat and noticing a flower — “a little symbol of hope and happiness,” as she puts it in the midst of chaos.
Never forget….to remember is to honor…

Cpl Nevin Moreira

LCpl Michael Geary a New Hampshire Hero

Always remembered – LCpl Michael Geary – KIA 12-8-10. As you watch this tribute, please keep his mom-Nancy, family and friends in your prayers. May God be with them and give them comfort, especially today. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; KIA Dec. 8, 2010 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations. Michael Geary was so proud to be a Marine he wore his dress uniform to show his Pinkerton Academy English teacher after he completed training. Michael, a 20-year-old from Derry, NH, joined the Marines after he graduated from Pinkerton in 2009 and had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal.

He had started training to be a Marine when he was 14 by running and working out with his recruiters. Being a Marine “was just something he really wanted to do,” his uncle Michael said. Michael had been in Afghanistan since August and was due to come home in January. He had other chances at leave but passed them up to help buddies with families. “If he had leave, he passed it up to someone who was married and had children.” He was serving his first tour in Afghanistan. He planned to become a police officer or border patrolman when he got out of the service. He told teachers when he was accepted into the Marines it fulfilled a lifelong ambition, Pinkerton spokesman Robin Perrin said. Several teachers remembered him as a quiet man who deeply loved his country. Michael’s English teacher, Joseph Dion, issued a statement about his former student, recalling the day Michael told him he had been accepted into the Marines. “He was standing tall, proud of his decision to become a Marine,” Dion wrote. “Right from the start I liked having Mike as a student. He was genuinely interested in learning; he asked honest questions with a real desire to know the truth. When he made the decision to join the Marines, it was clear he had made a decision that would help him achieve a goal he truly believed in.”

Marine PFC Matthew L. Bertolino Flag Presentation

 

 

Joyce Bertolino  and family with their Honor and Remember flag for her son, Marine PFC Matthew L. Bertolino.

Presented Nov. 11, 2013 by Gold Star Families Jim and Lynn Savage and Jean Durgin

 Marine PFC Matthew L. Bertolino – 09-February- 2006 – Afghanistan

Remembering LCpl Ryan McCaughn

Remembering LCpl Ryan McCaughn – KIA on 11/7/06 while conducting combat operations in Anbar Province, Iraq. Ryan, 19, was less than two months into his deployment.

Ryan was born in Jacksonville N.C., the home of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. He spent his early years in North Carolina and Missouri and ultimately settled in Manchester, New Hampshire. There he was raised by his mother Nicole and his stepfather Raymond. Even as a child, friends said that Ryan was clear in his military ambitions. Both of his parents were former servicemen; his mother served briefly in the U.S. Army and his father, Thomas McCaughn was a Marine. His older brother Chris served in the Air Force and his brother Sean Merlin served in the Navy.

Friends described Ryan as an irrepressible comedian who used to torment his school bus driver and sometimes splashed around in puddles just for laughs. He performed on stage with Maskers, his high-school drama club, and wasn’t afraid to dress up as a woman if the part demanded it.

As a high schooler, Ryan took culinary classes at the Manchester School of Technology. He and his friends, Kyle Schmidt and Greg Lake, talked of one day opening a restaurant and bar. Ryan, they said, was going to take business classes so he could be the manager.

Mostly, though, friends and relatives said Ryan spoke of joining the military and, later, becoming a police officer. He worked extra hard during his senior year to complete the requirements necessary for enrolling in the Marines, at one point taking three English classes in a single semester.

At 17, he asked his mother to help him sign up for duty. “He said he was going to sign up anyway when he was 18,” Schmidt said, “but he would feel better if it was with her consent.” He left for boot camp at Parris Island one week after graduating in June 2005 and was then stationed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Although he wasn’t allowed to divulge most details of his mission, friends and family members said they knew he was living in Ramadi, the southwestern point of the Sunni Triangle and that he patrolled the region with a grenade launcher and M16 rifle. “He said he needed to do this” his mother recalled. “He said if he could keep one dad from going to Iraq and he could take his place instead, then he’ll feel like he’s accomplished something.”

Ryan occasionally returned to Central High School after graduating. Once, he came to talk to students about life in the Marines. Later, he came as a recruiter.

Ryan is remembered fondly for his sense of humor and serious commitment to the Marines and to his country. His creative writing teacher in high school shared a poem that Ryan had written entitled “Solider”

Soldier

“Many soldiers have had to experience the ultimate Sacrifice”
“Even in death, a soldier will show Pride.
All you can do is hope that they finally found Peace.”

Fellow soldier and friend Cpt Brian Krenzeli was in boot camp with Ryan and “considered his a great friend. He was one the guys there that really made the time go by faster especially with his humor. I don’t thinks there was a single day we spent on Parris Island that he didn’t get me quarter decked for laughing. He was an outstanding Marine and a great friend and he will be missed.”

Remember SPC Seth Haapanen ~ New Hampshire Hero

Remembering SPC Seth Haapanen – Casualty of war on 10-28-08

The last day Linda Haapanen saw her son Seth alive, he told her he wasn’t feeling well. So she went over and gave him a big hug. He squeezed her back. Then he rested his head in her arms.

He turned to leave, walked down the stairs and said, “I love you, Mom,” just like he would always say.

Less than 12 hours later, on October 28, 2008, Spc. Seth Haapanen took his own life.

As a soldier with the NH National Guard 237th Military Police Company, he had returned home only 4 months earlier from a year-long deployment in Iraq.

To read Seth’s story:
http://sethpaves.webs.com/nationalguardarticle.htm

To Remember is to Honor….

Remember SSgt. Allen H. Soifert ~ A New Hampshire Hero

Marine SSgt  Allen H.  Soifert of Hollis of Nashua, New Hampshire
Date of Death: 10/14/1983
Service years: 1976 – 1983
Branch: US Marines 1982-1983, 2336, Marine Amphibious Units/Brigades (MAU/MAB)/24th MAU
Incident: Beirut, Lebanon

Read SSgt. Alen H. Soifert’s story: http://www.pacificamilitary.com/books/f-theRoot.html

Names on the Beirut Memorial: http://www.beirut-memorial.org/memory/brtnames.html

1983 – A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem suicide terrorist, crashed into the U.S. Marine barracks near the Beirut International Airport in Lebanon. The bomb killed 241 Marines and sailors and injured 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurred at French military headquarters, where 58 died and 15 were injured. Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh was suspected of involvement. They were part of a contingent of 1,800 Marines that had been sent to Lebanon as part of a multinational force to help separate the warring Lebanese factions. Twice during the early 1980s the U.S. had deployed troops to Lebanon to deal with the fall-out from the 1982 Israeli invasion. In the first deployment, Marines helped oversee the peaceful withdrawal of the PLO from Beirut. In mid-September 1982 — after the U.S. troops had left — Israel’s Lebanese allies massacred an estimated 800 unarmed Palestinian civilians remaining in refugee camps. Following this, 1,800 Marines had been ordered back into Lebanon. The president assembled his national security team to devise a plan of military action. The planned target was the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training Hezbollah fighters. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger aborted the mission, reportedly because of his concerns that it would harm U.S. relations with other Arab nations. Instead, President Reagan ordered the battleship USS New Jersey, stationed off the coast of Lebanon, to the hills near Beirut. The move was seen as largely ineffective. Four months after the Marine barracks bombing, U.S. Marines were ordered to start pulling out of Lebanon.

To Remember is to Honor….

Remembering SPC Alan Burgess ~ NH Hero

Remembering SPC Alan Burgess – KIA on October 15, 2004 when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol vehicle while serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Alan, 24, of Landaff, N.H. was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery Brigade, New Hampshire Army National Guard, Woodsville, N.H. He joined the state National Guard in 2002. He was a member of Detachment 1, B Battery, based in Woodsville.

Alan was known for his big heart, his generosity and honesty. He believed that one should have fun because life is too short. In his leisure, he enjoyed outdoor events such as hunting and fishing and also computers. “He had a love for his family and for his country,” said his mother, Karen Moore. “He was looking forward to coming home and seeing his son. “He was a good boy, a good father and a wonderful son. His needs were always last — everyone else came first,” his mother said.

Alan’s faith played a big role in his life and he had begun study preparations in his goal to become a Military Chaplain. He enjoyed sharing his faith with those in Iraq. During visits to the Iraqis that he befriended he would bring candy to give away. His death had a profound effect on his comrades – they shared such a strong bond.
He brought humor, dedication and respect everywhere he went.

May God be with his mom, sisters, son, dad and all family and his many friends and brothers…especially today…may He grant them comfort and peace.

Never Forget – Honor and Remember him always….

Honor and Remember at the Apple Hill Orchard Military Appreciation Day

Gold Star Dad Jim Savage with a display at the Military Appreciation Day held on October 14th at Apple Hill Orchard.

 

 

Remember CPL Scott G. Dimond ~ NH Hero

Remembering CPL Scott G. Dimond. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), New Hampshire National Guard. Scott was KIA on Oct. 13, 2008, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device and his patrol was engaged in a small-arms fire attack.

He was a lifelong resident of Franklin and a graduate of Franklin High School, Class of 1987, where he participated in the football and track and field programs. He continued his interest in football after graduation, coaching the Franklin Pop Warner team.

Scott enlisted in the Marine Corps in his senior year of high school. He was medically discharged as a result of a serious football injury. Scott decided he would still serve our citizens, but in a different capacity when he began his law enforcement career in 1988 with the Franklin Police Department, retiring as a sergeant after 18 years of service.
He enlisted in the New Hampshire National Guard in 2006 while he worked on his nursing degree, looking forward to helping others in the health-care profession. Scott was a member of the Military Forces Honor Guard, traveling statewide, honoring those who served.

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