Trooper of the sky!
March 2007: It's been four years since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom and this month hundreds of people and six families remember the 82nd Paratroopers killed in Iraq on Monday, 5th March, 2007. Six soldiers died when a bomb exploded near their vehicles in Samarra, Salahuddin province, Iraq. The deaths were the largest loss of life in the past three years for the Fort Bragg-based airborne division. Their company commander, Capt. Eugene Farris, called each of the soldiers a hero and said it was an honor to serve with them. The men were members of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, from Fort Bragg, N.C.
Spc. Ryan M. Bell, 21, of Colville, Washington
Staff Sgt. Justin M. Estes, 25, of Sims, Arkansas, #8217
Pfc. Cory C. Kosters, 19, of The Woodlands, Texas
Sgt. Andrew C. Perkins, 27, of Northglenn, Colorado
Spc. Justin A. Rollins, 22, of Newport, N.H.
Staff Sgt. Robert Stanley, 27, Fayeteville, N.C.
A memorial service was held by the brigade in Iraq.
Their Crest: The soaring Black Panther is symbolic of the strength, cunning, and superb physical condition of both the Regiment and its troopers. That it's winged, indicates its airborne capabilities and mission. The silver background of the shield represents the shining and unblemished record of the Regiment. The four slanting bars, blue for infantry, signify the four major airborne assaults made by the 505th during World War II: Sicily, Italy, Normandy, and Holland. The crest is a red-winged arrowhead, red for courage, which symbolizes that the 505th, at Sicily was the first regiment in U.S. Army history to make a regimental-size airborne attack. The cloud depicts the sky from which the attack came. The "H-Minus" - that is, to be inserted behind enemy lines prior to H-hour (the scheduled time for the main attack).
Flags were flown at half-mast throughout Arkansas in the memory of Justin Michael "Dutch" Estes. Justin graduated from Oden High School in 2000. He was tall and the center of the basketball team and his name is on the banners in the Oden gym honoring their basketball accomplishments and that is were his funeral service was held. The bleachers were packed on Thursday 15th March. He was killed in Iraq just two weeks before he was due to come home on March 20. SSgt. Estes was in the third humvee in a convoy when the first vehicle was blown up. He ran up into the fire and flames of the vehicle to rescue a fellow soldier to safety when a second explosion occurred and he was killed. He lived in Montgomery County, AR in the small community of Sims. He is the first such casualty for Montgomery County since 1952. Don Estes will remember his son, Justin, as someone who gave freely. A gregarious young man who liked to ride motorcycles and play pool. It was his second tour in Iraq. They last spoke Saturday, when they discussed motorcycles. Estes was looking forward to getting home this summer and riding his new Harley-Davidson, his father said. He had more friends than I ever thought about in my lifetime. "People from all over the world are coming to his funeral, and we didn't ask them to." "He was perfect. That is all there is to it," Donald Estes said. Justin joined the Army in January 2001, and served in Korea before joining the 82nd Airborne in November 2005, where he was assigned as a fire team leader. In addition to his father, he is survived by his mother, Diane Salyers; and his big sister, Kelli Estes, all of Sims, Arkansas. Memories.
Thursday 15th March was Justin's funeral service at Oden. The Patriot Guard Riders and the Hog Chapter in Hot Springs turned out in big numbers with the State and County Law Enforcement provided an escort and support for Justin's casket from the Hot Springs Regional Airport to the Thornton Funeral Home in Mt Ida and on to the Oden High School gymnasium. The community turned out. The gym's blechers were packed. There were a number of people on the sides of the road holding their hands on their hearts, waving flags, holding signs and the older Vets giving a full salutes. Even our LORD wept-- there was a light misty rain on the way to Mt. Ida and it did not seem to matter to anyone riding. It was clear the turn around in the spirit of the people along the route. The welcome home was so much more grateful than what Viet Nam Vets received. The family was very grateful for the large turnout. Pastor David Birdsong from Pencil Bluff, Pastor Rusty Lewis and a chaplain from the army were officiating. Rusty knew Justin as he had graduated from Oden a couple of years ahead of him. The Oden H.S. basketball coach, Jim Tucker shared personal reflections. “He made every second count while he was here at this school, while he played on this court,” Tucker said. “There were many times that we’d run — he’d go throw up, he’d come back, keep going and never complain. Usually, he had a smile.” From Oden the funeral possession was escorted to the Lone Valley Cemetery, which is a short distance from his family home, and Justin was given a 21-gun salute. Justin was awarded three medals - the Bronze Star for meritorious service, the Purple Heart for being wounded in action and the Combat Infantryman Badge - which were presented to his family during the service. The chaplain said that Estes would be most proud of the infantryman badge “because the only people that win it are infantrymen. They’re the ones that slog it out, in the cold, in the wet, in the heat.” The Patriot Guard Riders and the CMA (Christian Motorcycle Assoc.) from Mena were there to keep protesters, who had a permit, away from the family but there wasn't any problem, as the protesters were down on an empty lot near the crossroads and not near the church or school on the hill in Oden. The Patriot Guard Riders, motorcyclists, staging area was in the church parking lot opposite the school. They are mostly former military men who ride bikes and and they appreciated the doughnuts and coffee at the Oden Baptist Church Hall offered by the ladies of the church. The PGR also provided a flag line at the gymnasium and at the Cemetery at Sims following the service. God was weeping with us. The Army chaplain said Estes understood the importance of his mission in Iraq and read this poem written in 1945:
THE YOUNG DEAD SOLDIERS DO NOT SPEAK
Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses, who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night and when the clock counts.
They say,We were young. We have died. Remember us.
They say, We have done what we could but until it is finished it is not done.
They say, We have given our lives but until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave.
They say, Our deaths are not ours, they are yours; they will mean what you make them.
They say, Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say, it is you who must say this.
They say, We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning; give them an end to the war and a true peace; give them a victory that ends the war and a peace afterwards; give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died. Remember us.
by Archibald MacLeish,
1892-1982, American Poet
Lone Valley Church, 21 gun salute, 15 March 2007
Soldiers forever.
Spc. Ryan M. Bell was a rifleman who joined the Army in 2004, and came to the 82nd Airborne in January 2005. He joined the Army hoping to eventually become a doctor. He was a responsible young man, he was sensible, he knew what he wanted to do with his life.
Pfc. Cory C. Kosters. Three months after Cory Kosters graduated from The Woodlands High School in 2005, he enlisted in the Army. Cory, 19-year-old, was the youngest killed in the explosion in Samarra on March 5, the same day The Woodlands High School graduate was first scheduled to return home after being deployed in August, but Kosters postponed his trip so that another soldier expecting a child back home could return to his family, said Larry York, a pastor at Crossroads Baptist Church. "I guess we could say today that Cory gave his life so someone could experience new life," York said. "Today we come to honor a real hero. Cory Kosters did what real heroes do." A home-grown hero. To honor Kosters, people lined Research Forest Drive and waved flags big and small. His father had him set up to go to college but he chose instead to enlist in the military. He had been in the 82nd Airborne since May 2006 and had been in the war zone in since August 2006.
Sgt. Andrew C. Perkins was an anti-armor specialist and had been in the Army since April 2004, when he joined the 82nd Airborne. "He always loved the military, all his life," Weldon Perkins, Andrew's father, said. "He wanted to make it his life." His family said he loved to mountain bike, ride motorcycles and rock climb.
Spc. Justin A. Rollins was an assistant machine gunner and joined the Army in February 2004, and came to the 82nd Airborne that year. He was scheduled to come home in about three weeks and planned to pop the question to girlfriend. Rollins was scheduled to have a two-week break in March or April and be rotated out of Iraq in August. He was offered the chance to become an Army recruiter, but he didn't want a cushy job and instead wanted to be with his men.
Staff Sgt. Robert Stanley spoke with his father a week ago and said the intensity of things was increasing. Their patrols were getting more intense, more frequent. The bad guys, their weapons, were getting more advanced. Stanley served in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and was on his third combat tour. He was among the first troops to land in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks. He had been in the Army since 1999, and joined the 82nd Airborne in May 2000. He was a machine gunner before becoming a squad leader. Family from Spotsylvania, Virginia.
They shall grow not old, as we
that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. ---- Laurence Binyon
Justin's mother, Diane Salyers, was presented with the Silver Star, an award for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States. on Jan. 19, 2008. by officers of the 3rd Brigade Combat team, 82nd Airborne Division, out of Fort Bragg, N.C. Sergeant Estes was in the third truck in a patrol conducting reconnaissance through Samarra, Iraq when an explosion took place, engulfing the truck in the lead. Five paratroopers were injured. "Without hesitation and aware of the imminent danger, SSG Estes grabbed the fire blanket and ran through the inferno surrounding the destroyed vehicle to render medical aid. Estes moved casualties and began the process of medical care until the medic arrived. After clearing casualties from the wreckage, he remained at the side of a fellow Staff Sergeant. As the medical team approached, Estes was engulfed in a cloud of smoke and debris as a secondary IED detonated directly underneath his feet."