thedrifter
05-03-09, 08:33 AM
Sailor, Marine killed in Anbar arrive at Dover
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, May 3, 2009
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Two transfer cases, each covered with an American flag.
One contains a fallen Marine, the other a fallen sailor.
The servicemembers waiting on the flight line are respectfully silent.
After a chaplain gives a quiet prayer, the transfer cases are lowered from the plane to a waiting detail of sailors and Marines.
That’s how the remains of Marine Staff Sgt. Mark A. Wojciechowski and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Trahan were greeted Friday night when they arrived at Dover.
Both were killed Thursday in Iraq’s Anbar province, once the deadliest place for U.S. troops, now relatively quiet — at least until recently.
Trahan, 22, was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician who deployed with "an East Coast based SEAL team," according to the Defense Department.
Wojciechowski, 25, was with the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force.
A second Marine, Sgt. James R. McIlvaine, 26, of Olney, Md., was killed in the same incident. He arrived on a later plane, an Air Force official said. The circumstances surrounding their deaths were not known Friday.
Friday’s events are known as "dignified transfers," the process of moving a fallen servicemember from the plane to the "transfer vehicle," which will carry him or her to the mortuary, according to Air Force Mortuary Affairs.
President George H.W. Bush ordered a ban on media coverage of the transfers in 1991, but after President Barack Obama ordered a review into the matter, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reversed the policy in March.
"We are committed to seeing that America’s fallen heroes are received back to their loved ones and their country with the honor, respect and recognition that they and their families have earned," Gates said at a March 18 news conference.
As of Friday night, 16 of 22 families of the fallen have allowed media to cover their loved ones’ arrival since the policy change, said Air Force Capt. Thomas Wenz, a spokesman for Air Force Mortuary Affairs.
Friday marked the first dignified transfer for a sailor since media was reinstated, Wenz said.
Family members attended Friday night, but they were screened from the media, which is not allowed to photograph or try to interview them without prior consent.
That is one of the ground rules media have to agree to in order to cover the transfers. Violators will be kicked off base and not allowed to return.
So far, there have been no incidents with the media, Wenz said.
"We didn’t expect there would be," he said.
Sailors and Marines waited in a humid, breezy Friday night to receive their fallen comrades.
The civilian pilots who brought them to Dover stood at attention.
Wojciechowski, and then Trahan, were carefully put in a truck that would take them to the mortuary.
A low voice said, "Present arms."
The sailors, Marines and airmen deliberately saluted in unison. The truck slowly pulled away.
Ellie
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, May 3, 2009
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Two transfer cases, each covered with an American flag.
One contains a fallen Marine, the other a fallen sailor.
The servicemembers waiting on the flight line are respectfully silent.
After a chaplain gives a quiet prayer, the transfer cases are lowered from the plane to a waiting detail of sailors and Marines.
That’s how the remains of Marine Staff Sgt. Mark A. Wojciechowski and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Trahan were greeted Friday night when they arrived at Dover.
Both were killed Thursday in Iraq’s Anbar province, once the deadliest place for U.S. troops, now relatively quiet — at least until recently.
Trahan, 22, was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician who deployed with "an East Coast based SEAL team," according to the Defense Department.
Wojciechowski, 25, was with the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force.
A second Marine, Sgt. James R. McIlvaine, 26, of Olney, Md., was killed in the same incident. He arrived on a later plane, an Air Force official said. The circumstances surrounding their deaths were not known Friday.
Friday’s events are known as "dignified transfers," the process of moving a fallen servicemember from the plane to the "transfer vehicle," which will carry him or her to the mortuary, according to Air Force Mortuary Affairs.
President George H.W. Bush ordered a ban on media coverage of the transfers in 1991, but after President Barack Obama ordered a review into the matter, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reversed the policy in March.
"We are committed to seeing that America’s fallen heroes are received back to their loved ones and their country with the honor, respect and recognition that they and their families have earned," Gates said at a March 18 news conference.
As of Friday night, 16 of 22 families of the fallen have allowed media to cover their loved ones’ arrival since the policy change, said Air Force Capt. Thomas Wenz, a spokesman for Air Force Mortuary Affairs.
Friday marked the first dignified transfer for a sailor since media was reinstated, Wenz said.
Family members attended Friday night, but they were screened from the media, which is not allowed to photograph or try to interview them without prior consent.
That is one of the ground rules media have to agree to in order to cover the transfers. Violators will be kicked off base and not allowed to return.
So far, there have been no incidents with the media, Wenz said.
"We didn’t expect there would be," he said.
Sailors and Marines waited in a humid, breezy Friday night to receive their fallen comrades.
The civilian pilots who brought them to Dover stood at attention.
Wojciechowski, and then Trahan, were carefully put in a truck that would take them to the mortuary.
A low voice said, "Present arms."
The sailors, Marines and airmen deliberately saluted in unison. The truck slowly pulled away.
Ellie