DOD casualty report from June 21-28

Massachusetts National Cemetery - Bourne, MA

The Department of Defense announced this week the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
 
+SGT Corey E. Garver, 26, of Topsham, Maine, died June 23rd, in Zormat, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.  He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
 
+Spc. Javier Sanchez Jr., 28, of Greenfield, California, died June 23, in Sar Rowzah, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol.  He was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, New York.

+Sgt. Justin R. Rogers, 25, of Barton, New York, died June 28, in Bagram, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident currently under investigation.  He was assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

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Also, the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that a soldier, missing from the Vietnam War, has been accounted for and will be buried with full military honors along with two of his crew members.

Army Spc. 5 John L. Burgess, of Sutton Bay, Michigan, was the crew chief of a UH-1H Iroquois helicopter that crashed in Binh Phuoc Province, South Vietnam.  Also, killed in the crash were 1LT Leslie F. Douglas Jr., of Verona, Mississippi; lLT Richard Dyer, of Central Falls, Rhode Island and SFC Juan Colon-Diaz, of Comerio, Puerto Rico. Another crew member, PFC John Goosman, survived the crash and was rescued.  Remains representing Dyer, Colon-Diaz, and Burgess, will be buried as a group in a single casket, on July 2, at Arlington National Cemetery.

On June 30, 1970, while on a command and control mission, the helicopter was struck by enemy fire, causing it to crash. Shortly thereafter, friendly forces recovered remains of Douglas, Colon-Diaz, and Dyer.  The three men were individually identified and buried with full military honors.  At that time, no remains were attributed to Burgess.

From 1992 to 2012, more than a dozen joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams investigated the case, in Binh Phuoc Province, recovering human remains, personal effects, military equipment, and aircraft wreckage associated with this loss.