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By Matie Singh Uthayachandran & Annan Boodrm |
On April 4, 22-year old Corporal Bernard Brent Gooden, was killed in a firefight with Iraqi forces near Bhagdad.
At funeral services held for Gooden at Oneness Rehoboth Apostolic Church in Mount Vernon, New York.he was posthumously presented with the Purple Heart, the Medal of Honor, which was established by President George Washington in 1782 and is awarded to soldiers who are wounded or killed in battle.
In a letter, President George W Bush conveyed America's appreciation for Corporal Gooden's sacrifice. "Our nation will not forget Brent's sacrifice... we will forever remember him," the letter read in part.
The family has established a memorial fund in Corporal Gooden's honor and a computer room will be set up at his alma mater, Bohemia Primary and All-Age, in St Ann, Jamaica.
Another death was that of Marine Lance Corporal William White of Brooklyn, New York City. White who was with the 3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion of the Marines First Division was killed in Iraq the first week of April when his vehicle rolled over in a canal. He drowned. White's grandfather is Jamaican.
And the body of Haitian-born Gladimir Phillipe, 37, an Army sergeant 1st class, was found slain by Iraqi militants along with another soldier, 20 miles northwest of Baghdad - some five miles from where they vanished with their Humvee on June 25, almost two months after major combat had ended in Iraq.
Dozens of Philippe relatives, some wailing and sobbing as they heard the news, gathered at the family home in Roselle, N.J., to mourn the 16-year Army veteran, who had served in just about every recent American conflict: Haiti, Bosnia, and the first Persian Gulf War.
"He enjoyed serving his country. It's what he wanted to do," said Renisse Philippe, Gladimir's father. "We supported his decision to join and stay in the Army, but we hoped to someday have him back."
Gladimir, who had nine brothers and sisters, immigrated to the United States from Haiti when he was 13. His ex-wife, Annya, and their 10-year-old son Cassidy, live in Germany, where the career Army man had previously been stationed.
Among the injured was 21-year-old Guyanese, Specialist (Spc) Onica Branche. She sustained multiple lacerations to the face, including the loss of several toes inn the 'Battle for Baghdad' when tank-fire from an advancing US coalition force ripped through the Palestine Hotel in central Bhagdad.
"She was among the first batch of US military personnel to be stationed in Kuwait since last October to await the battle signal, and among the first to enter Iraq when the orders to move in were finally given," said Patricia Branche, Onica's mother.
'Nikki', as Onica is called, joined the army at the instigation of a cousin, Germain Shury, who is also seeing active duty in the war as is Peter King, a 20-year old Guyanese in the 64th Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, whose family told Voice of America's Derrice dean that they do not know exactly where he is.
Akini Blood-Lewis, a Trinidadian-born US Marine, was almost killed in an ambush by Iraqi soldiers pretending to be civilians, mere days before he was to celebrate his 20th birthday. Blood-Lewis, who was on patrol with members of his troop, escaped the ambush with only a bullet wound to his right arm. Ironically, his own firearm miraculously saved him.
Sergeant Curtis P. Campbell, 27, who was shot in the leg, is recovering in El Paso. His wife, Trenesha, and two children, Jalen Heygood, 8, and Jada Campbell, 5 are in Brooklyn, NY. The supply specialist hailed from Kingston, Jamaica.
Among others Caribbeans involved in the war were two Guyanese brothers, Bermel Agrippa, 32, and Nighel Agrippa, 29. Bermel is in the 407th Forward Support Battalion and Nighel is in Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 82nd Airborne Division. The Agrippas are waiting to become US citizens.
Another Guyanese-born who form part of the coalition forces currently in Baghdad is Shellon Jonas, 25. Jonas, who, went to Iraq the third week in March, was in the camp in Kuwait when an American soldier used a grenade against his colleagues, killing two of them. "Her army training was tough, but she was determined to make it," said Jonas father, Haydock.
Attached to the 101 Airborne Division, Jonas has been in the US Army for the past four years, one of which was spent serving in Kosovo following the NATO-led war against Serbia.
Trinidad-born, Emery Matthew Tronchin, 19 was on active duty in Kuwait after the news broke out about the impending war between the US and Iraq.
Tronchin's grandfather, Mackie Boyce, a former police sergeant, said Emery's mother, Marleyne, has been frantic for his safety. "She has been crying, but when he left to go to Kuwaithe [Tronchin] said he had to go and he was glad to represent Trinidad and Tobago," said Sr. Tronchin. Since his departure to Kuwait, they have not heard from him.
Other Trinis in Kuwat include Cpl Navin A. Supersad, Lance Cpl Adrian J Nichols, Staff Sgt Raymond P Williams, Staff Sgt Hayden J. McCall and Corporal Brandon I Ganaishlal, all serving in the US Marine Corps. They are reserves with the 6th Communications Battalion stationed in Brooklyn, New York. The unit was activated on January 27 and deployed to Camp Commando, Kuwait, since February 16.
Jamaican-born private (Pvt) Shoshana Johnson was among at least ten members of the 507th Maintenance Unit, a support group in charge of feeding soldiers and fueling and repairing army vehicles, which were trailing the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, when it was ambushed and captured near Nasirriyah in the southern part of Iraq by the Iraqis. She was subsequently rescued by advancing American soldiers. Her 's father, Claude Johnson was born in Panama of Jamaican parents.
Other Jamaicans serving include 28-year old Philippe Arthur, who is with the Third Infantry Division of the US Army and Captain Gary O'Sullivan who is with the 3rd Infantry Division, which was apparently the first to advance to Baghdad. He was based in Fort Stewart Georgia.
Among Barbadians involved in the war is 38-year old Sergeant Mason, an air traffic controller, 26-year old Pedro Smith, an engineer and demolition expert, Master-Sergeant Cheryl Vaughan who is now in Kuwait and supervises the sending of supplies to the soldiers on the front lines in Iraq and Jeffrey Crocker, a corporal in an engineering unit of the United States Army's 101 Airborne.
Ricardo Antonio Jacques, a 25-year-old officer who was stationed in Texas until he was given the command to begin his duties as a soldier in Iraq, is from the Bahamas.
Another Bahamanian is 26-year old Omar Butler who was deployed to Iraq on March 17 as a member of the U.S. Air force 9th Civil Engineering Squadron. Who is from Boston, Massachusetts in the 9th Civil Engineering Squadron.
20-year-old paratrooper, Christopher Booth is among the British combat force in Iraq. He is a combat soldier with the "Red Berets," 3rd Brigade of the British Parachute Regiment.
Twenty-one year-old Jerome Eugene Hutcheson IV, who, is currently amongst ground troops stationed in Kuwait, is a Private First Class of Kilo Company 3rd Battalion. He is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Twenty year old Alexander Kraft is attached to the 7th Calvary of the 3rd Infantry Division of the armored Brigade. He is a 5E Specialist Gunner in a Bradley armored vehicle.
Haitian John Edmond, is a 38-year old warrant officer in the army. He migrated at age 15, joined the army at 19, served during the last 20 years - in first Gulf War and in Haiti in 1994. His family does not have his exact whereabouts in Iraq.
From Dominica, Sergeant Kentish R. Samuel and Corporal, Danian Philbert are also stationed in Iraq. Samuel is a member of the District of Columbia Army National Guard 547th Transportation Company. He and 150 members of his company (which included another Dominican from Wesley) were mobilized in early February 2003 in support of U.S military operations in Iraq and Kuwait. The company departed Washington DC in February after a brief ceremony at an Air Force Base just outside of Washington DC.
23-year-old Corporal, Danian Philbert is attached to the Sixth Motors Transport Battalion of the United States Marines Corps.