U.S. DoD Military Casualty Update: 29 November - 5 December, 2012

 

+ Lance Cpl. Anthony J. Denier (USMC), 26, of Mechanicville, N.Y., died Dec. 2, while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. 

                                                       

+Sgt. 1st Class. Darren M. Linde, 41, of Sidney, Mont., and Spc. Tyler J. Orgaard, 20, of Bismarck, N.D.  They died Dec. 3, in Lashkar Gah City, Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device.  They were assigned to the 818th Engineer Company, 164th Engineer Battalion, Williston, N.D.     

+ Sgt. John R. Jones (Army), of Louisville, Ky., will be buried Dec. 6, in Arlington National Cemetery.  On June 4, 1971, Jones was part of a U.S. team working with indigenous commandos to defend a radio-relay base, known as Hickory Hill, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam.  When enemy forces attacked the site, Jones and another serviceman took up a defensive position in a nearby bunker.  The following morning, Jones was reportedly killed by enemy fire and the other soldier was captured and held as a POW until 1973.

From 1993 to 2010, joint U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted several investigations, surveyed the site and interviewed multiple witnesses, including those involved in the battle.  During that time, analysts from JPAC and DPMO evaluated wartime records and eyewitness accounts to determine possible excavation sites.  In 2011, another joint U.S.-S.R.V team located human remains in a bunker suspected to be the last known location of Jones.