Born: Saranac Lake, New York
Died: August 17, 2006
Lieut Jessica E Hill spent much of her life in St. Augustine, Florida and had joined the Coast Guard after she graduated from the University of South Alabama with a master’s degree in marine science. It was what she lived for. Vivacious and adventurous, she spent many hours on a sailboat traveling with her parents on their boat. Jessica had been accepted into the Navy diving school in Panama City, Florida where she had competed and surpassed many other Coast Guard and Navy enlisted personnel. She was accepted and tested in the same diving school that was popularized in the 2000 film “Men of Honor.” The intense diving program offers only a few openings each year for enlisted men and women. Acceptance into the program is determined by several factors, including command approval, physical fitness and swimming capabilities, and is extremely selective. It was very competitive, and she excelled at it. Jessica was currently serving as the Marine Science Officer on Healy since mid-summer 2004. She acted as the onboard Liaison between the science personnel and the Healy command. She also coordinated the on-load of science gear and also served as Healy’s dive officer. She leaves behind her father, William Carl Hill Jr., her mother, Dawn Ellen Zimmerman, a sister, Adrienne Hill Gullett, a brother, William Carl Hill III, stepfather, Rob Zimmerman, stepmothers, Karen Hill, and Sherri Sundberg, step brothers, Cayman Eby, David Kausch and Josh Kausch, step sister, Christina Kausch, fiance, Tim Tully. Jessica died at age 31 during a scientific expedition about 500 miles from the Alaskan coast while conducting a routine SCUBA dive from the ice at 77 12.3 N 177 35.8W.
Cremated: Ashes scattered at sea.
Born: July 5, 1967 in Waynesboro, Virginia
Died: November 20, 2009 in South Korea
Spc Kris P. Jones formerly of Verona, Virginia was a graduate of Waynesboro High School. He was born the son of the late, Wilbert and and the late Lucy Beck Jones. Kris served as a United States Marine before enlisting in the Army where he served as a truck driver with the regiment’s E Company, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade. Surviving relatives include his wife, Sandi K. Jones; three sons, Koron Jones, Kian Jones and Jordan Embrey; three daughters, Safria Jones, Alesai Dill and Katoria Harris; two brothers, Wilbert Jones and Michael Dillard; two sisters, Fellecia Jones and Sarah Britt; a best friend, Scott Miller; and many other relatives and friends. He died at age 42 while on active duty at Camp Humphreys in South Korea.
Burial is at Riverview Cemetery in Waynesboro, Virginia
Born on Nov. 13, 1982 in Sheboygan, WI
Died on Mar. 15, 2007 in Guam
Jared had a great love of his Lord, his country and his family. He had graduated from Sheboygan County Christian High School in 2001 and soon after joined the United States Navy. On December 21, 2002, he married Nicole Veldboom. Jared was a member of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 based out of Gulfport, Mississippi. He has been stationed at Camp Covington, United States Naval base in Guam, since October 2006. He was a gunner’s mate on the ships, USS Detroit AOE4 and the USS Ashland LSD48. He attended the Handsboro Baptist Church in Gulfport, Mississippi and the Calvary Chapel in Guam. He enjoyed fishing, hiking, and stargazing while on his ship assignments. Jared was a “big kid at heart” and still enjoyed Lego’s and Star Wars. All who knew him loved him. An optimist, he was always willing to help those in need. Jared was shot and killed by a fellow U.S. Navy Seabee, who also critically injured another Seabee.
Jared was buried in Hartmann Cemetery in Wilson, Wisconsin.
Born: October 19 1988
Died: April 19, 1010 aboard the Submarine USS Nebraska
Machinist Mate Fireman William G. Mack, of South Pittsburg, Tennessee graduated from Richard Hardy Memorial School, attended University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and was a former employee of both Stevarino’s and Lotto Mart. His goal was to be a college professor and was planning to study history at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Growing up, Will was a typical boy with a big personality. He was smart and active, always climbing and a bit of an actor. Will was currently an active duty Sailor with the United States Navy after having joined in December of 2008. He was stationed in Washington state and had been out to sea serving a deployment with a nuclear submarine, the USS Nebraska, and was due back in June of 2010. He died unexpectedly at age 21 while serving aboard the Submarine. Will was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather, Carl Mack. He is survived by his parents, Gerald and Susan Mack, sisters, Vanessa and Dena, grandparents, Bill and Marie Steelman, and Shirley Mack, uncles and aunts, Jim and Patti Steelman, and Edward and Brenda Steelman, great-uncles and aunts, Bob and Marie Copeland, JD and Katherine Mullins, Freda and Maurice Allyn, and Phil and Connie Flagg, great-aunt, Mary Copeland, great-uncles, Frank Copeland, and Henry Beasley, nieces, Hannah and Megan.
Burial is at Booneville Cemetery in Booneville, Tennessee
Born: May 31, 1983
Died: August 13, 2007 in Egypt
Sgt. Clifton D. “Spooky” Johnson of Reform, Alabama joined the Army in 2002 after working a few years in the Millport area following graduation from Pickens County High School. He had been overseas for almost a year. He was killed at age 24 when the Army truck he was driving was involved in an accident.
Burial is at Providence Cemetery in Millport, Alabama
Died: February 10, 2010 in Kosovo
Sgt. Terry Rishling of Fargo, North Dakota enlisted in the Guard on July 13, 2001, joining C Company, 141st Engineer Combat Battalion in Bismarck. In September 2005, he joined the Headquarters Company of the 141st in Valley City. He transferred to A Company 231st Brigade Support Battalion in September 2006. Outside of the military, his job for the past three years was at the Fargo office of Jet-Way, which does industrial cleaning of agricultural facilities. He was expected to return home in August 2010. Terry was serving in Kosovo with the Army National Guard on peacekeeping duty. He was deployed to Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo with the Multi-National Battle Group-East. Terry was trained as a combat engineer and a petroleum supply specialist. He was a team leader in the third platoon of A Company, 231st Maneuver Task Force, a unit based in Valley City, N.D. A lot of younger guys really looked up to him, and he was always willing to take the extra time and give them a hand. He died at age 38 of natural causes. He is survived by his wife, Nancy and daughters, Sophie and Courtney, and his parents, John and Gloria Rishling. He was 38.
Born Feb. 3, 1978 in Columbia, TN
Died Feb. 3, 2010 near Mannheim, Germany
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Clayton M. Hickman
In the early part of his life, Clayton was very active in the scouts and little league baseball. In middle school he began his involvement with school band, which took him on a trip to march in the Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C. Another school trip took him to by airplane to Arizona to march in the Fiesta Bowl, and it was this trip that left an impact on his life. It had been his very first airplane ride and he decided he wanted to fly. He began working at Maury County Tennessee Airport mowing grass to earn time to learn to fly fixed wing aircraft. In December 1996, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and over the nine years he served he was stationed in Japan, South Korea and Thailand before coming back to the States. His last duty station was in Jacksonville, Florida. During this time, he worked part time with Herlong Airport where he was continuing to pursue his fixed wing certification. He left the Marines as a Sergeant and had a brief absence from military duty before joining the United States Army and going to Warrant Officer’s Planning School in 2007 and becoming a Warrant Officer 1 so he could learn to fly helicopters and was stationed in Fort Rucker, Alabama. Upon graduation in 2009, he was then assigned to serve a three year stint in Stuttgart Germany arriving August 2009, assigned to G Company, 52nd Regiment; 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment; 12th Combat Aviation Brigade based in Stuttgart. Clayton was one of three U.S. Soldiers who were killed when a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed northeast of Mannheim, Germany on February 3, 2010. Clayton died on his 32nd birthday. His dream after retiring from military service was to pursue a job flying with the Vanderbilt Lifeflight team.
Born: September 3, 1982 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania
Died: July 21, 2008 in Guam
1st Lt. Joshua D. Shepherd of Lewistown, Pennsylvania was a 2001 graduate of Lewistown Area High School and was an Air Force ROTC cadet at Penn State and a journalism major who minored in history and military studies graduating in 2005. He was a member of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lewistown and a member of the Lewistown Moose Lodge. He was serving as a navigator on the unarmed Air Force Bomber that crashed as it was making a swing around the island from Andersen Air Force Base for a celebratory fly-over as part of Guam Liberation Day celebrations. The holiday marks the arrival of the U.S. military arrived to retake the island from Japan. Joshua was a navigator with over 500 flying hours qualified in T-43 and B-52H aircraft. His awards include the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, National Defense Service Medal and Global War On Terrorism Service Medal. He was on of six victims of the B-52 crash near the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. He was 26. He is survived by his wife and two sons, ages 5 and 5 months. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather, Harold W. Shepherd.
Burial is at Juniata Memorial Cemetery in Lewistown, Pennsylvania
Born: November 8, 1976 in San Antonio, Texas
Died: July 21, 2008 in Guam
Capt. Michael K. Dodson grew up in San Antonio. He had wanted to fly planes since he was 12. So he got in the Civil Air Patrol and worked through the summers to put himself through the program. By the time he went to college, he had clocked 400 commercial flying hours. He earned a bachelor of art degree in electrical engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. But Michael didn’t want to be a navigator forever. He wanted to fly instead. In 2005, he participated in the Euro-Nato Joint Jet Pilot Training program in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was one of 15 out of a more than 300 applicant pool to undergo the international training. Michael had spent five years at Pope Air Force Base as navigator on C-130 cargo airplanes and then was selected for pilot training. He planned to return to C-130s but ended up in B-52s instead. Capt Dodson was a Pilot and Navigator with 2,121 hours of flying time including 293 combat hours. His awards include the Air Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Air Force Commendation Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster. He and his wife planned to return to Fayetteville, North Carolina after he completed military service. Michael was on of six victims of the B-52 crash near the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. He was 31.
Burial is at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas -Sec MA3 Site 55
Born: April 2, 1974
Died: March 31, 2005 in Albania
Capt. Surender Kothakota of Fayetteville, North Carolina formerly of Tulsa, Oklahoma is the son of Sgt. Maj. Surender and Margret Schepers Kothakota. He was a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where he was active in ROTC. He spent several summers in Tulsa. His parents were currently stationed in Germany. He is the grandson of Ruth Schepers of Tulsa. Surrender and eight others died when a military C-130 airplane crashed in a mountainous area during a joint exercise. He was 30 years old. The Air Force captain was assigned to the 7th Special Operations Squadron based in Mildenhall, England.
Burial is at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia – Sec 60 Site 7959