So Much More Than a Transfer Case!

A U.S. Air Force C-5 cargo plane arrives at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, with the transfer cases containing the remains of Army Pfc. Micahel C. Olivieri of Chicago, Pfc. Christopher B. Fishbeck of Victorville, CA, Pfc. Michael B. Cook of Middletown, Ohio and Emilio J. Campo of Madelia, MN. Our soldiers were killed in Iraq. These transfer cases contain the remains of our heroes. I am posting photos of their faces (unable to find all faces, yet!) and stories of their lives, so they are remembered and never forgotten!

May Almighty God Bless these brave Warriors!
May Almighty God comfort the families who love them so!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




MADELIA, Minn. -- 20-year-old Sgt. Emilio Campo, Jr. has been killed in Iraq. Campo, an army medic from Madelia in Southern Minnesota, was killed Monday in combat.

His community is feeling the loss.

It's the last week of school at Madelia High School, where teachers and students say they can't stop thinking about Campo.

"It's been heartbreaking," said Samantha Dawn Bestick, a classmate of Campo's. "He would just make friends where ever he went. He was really happy. I don't think I've ever seen him mad."

Campo was in the Class of 2009 at Madelia. His choice to train as an army medic surpriced no one.

"He was always just helping people. I mean no matter what," said classmate Dustin Van Hale. "It didn't matter who you were or what you were doing, he was always helping you. He was always looking out for everybody."

When word came that Emilio had been killed, his city put up the 4th of July flags in his honor, as his classmates hung yellow ribbons.

Campo's heart was still very much in Madelia.

Madelia High School Principal Allan Beyer said Emilio came to visit his old school when he was home on leave.

"He'd stop and say hi to us in the office and visit. He would visit with teachers. He would go around visit with students," said Beyer.

His picture seems to be on every page of his high school yearbook.

Campo played varsity football, basketball, ran track, was a member of the Business Professionals of America, and sang in the choir.

Madelia Athletic Director Paul Carpenter said he will be missed.

"When he graduated from school there was a big piece of our school missing and leaving when he graduated," Carpenter said.
Emilio's younger brother Hugo is a member of the junior class at Madelia.

His older brother Hector also joined the military after graduating from Madelia.

Friends say his parents have traveled to the east coast to greet their son's body when it arrives back in America.

The army has release no specifics of how Sgt. Campo died, though his death coincides with a rocket attack that killed five American servicemen earlier this week.
Source: kare11.com



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


A former Butler County resident is one of five American soldiers who were killed in a Monday rocket attack in central Iraq.

On Tuesday, the Air Force listed Pfc. Michael B. Cook Jr. as one of several soldiers whose bodies were to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Cook, who lived in Liberty
Twp. from July 2003 to June 2010, was killed on his 27th birthday. He had been stationed in Iraq since November, and his wife, Samantha, is in Fort Riley, Kan. They have two children, Hailee, 7, and Michael B. Cook III, 3.

A 2003 graduate of Salem High School in New Hampshire, Cook’s father and mother — Michael B. and Patti Cook — live in Salem, as do his siblings, Lucas and Kimberly Cook.

The rocket attack was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in a year, according to the Los Angeles Times wire service. The five had been serving as advisers for Iraqi national police at a base in eastern Baghdad.

“There was just this certain spark about him,” said David Conte, who was in Cook’s wedding party in 2004. “You couldn’t quite put a finger on it. It’s hitting me pretty hard right now.”

“Mike left behind a lot,” said Susan Bahrakis, the wife of a cousin of Cook’s father. “He was a very devoted father and a loving brother and he loved his parents so much.”

Cook enlisted in the Army about a year ago, said Bahrakis, who said the young family lived in New Hampshire and Ohio before moving to Kansas.
Source: Middletown Journal


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Army Pfc. Christopher B. Fishbeck graduated from the Field Artillery Automated Tactical Data Systems Specialist Advanced Individual Training course at Fort Sill, Lawton, Okla.As members of the Army's field artillery team, the course is designed to train soldiers as specialists to operate the advanced field artillery tactical data systems for both cannon and multiple launch rocket systems. The specialists play a critical role in the safe, accurate, and lethal delivery of the field artillery's various fire support systems used to support infantry and tank units in combat. Skills training included methods of computing target locations using computers or manual calculations, ammunition handling techniques, and operating and performing maintenance on related equipment, vehicles, generators, and artillery tactical and data systems.He is the son of Gary D. Fishbeck and Toni Kay of Clovis St., Victorville, Calif.The private is a 2005 graduate of Kennedy High School, La Palma, Calif.
Source: Armed Forces News Services

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




Pfc. Michael C. Olivieri of Chicago was also killed. I tried to find a photo and a story of this soldier and was unable to locate anything other than a photo of his transfer case. If any of you are able to find information, please pass it along. So far the name of the fifth soldier killed has not been released.


****Special thanks to Pax for passing along information regarding Pfc. Olivieri and Pfc. Cook...we now have their faces!