On 8/5/05, DEVIN <_______@gmail.com> wrote:
John,
I have given one of your flags to one of our Helo pilots. It will be going with that pilot everywhere he goes here in Afghanistan. Also it will be present for a major operation that will be coming up soon. We will keep a log of where it has been and the operations it has been on.
We will also try very hard to get pictures as we go. Once i complete my tour i will send it to you with a log and certificate for you to keep.
Thank you once again for your kindness. I think this is an awsome tribute to all of the great people we lost that tragic day.
Devin
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On 5/17/05, Biellc5@aol.com <Biellc5@aol.com> wrote:
Devin,
I will send a few of them to you tomorrow. Thank you for sharing it with all
those you meet. Stay safe and come home to us soon.
John Michelotti
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Subject: Re: Flag for Afghanistan
From: DEVIN <_______@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 07:03:22 +0000
To: <Biellc5@aol.com>
John,
Finally got a pic for ya, this was taken today at Jalalabad Airfield in Northern Afghanistan. And as a sign of unity i had my New Zealand Major get in on the picture. Just so you know as well one of your flags was in an IED Strike in the Ghazni province about a week ago.
One of our commrades was killed as well.RIP TO OUR BROTHER! I dont mean that in a negative way but i think it was fitting your flag was present. I have attached a picture of the soldier as well. Great kid and he was all about the little kids here. He was a medic. SPC CHRISTOPHER "DOC" KATZENBERGER 25 years old from St Louis.
Also i am attaching a very cool story i think you will enjoy. Take care
Devin
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Devin,
Thanks so much for the photos we'll put them up on our website this week. I feel so badly for Spc. Katzenberger's family. We will put his photo up with a special memorial to him.
Can you give me the name of your New Zealand Major for the website. My brother-in-law has a farm in Haveloch on the North Island of New Zealand. I hear its a beautiful place.
STAY SAFE!!!!
John
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John,
His name is Major Andrew Shaw. He has been a pleasure to work with also ive attached a photo of him in the #8 seat in the blackhawk. We call it the "HELL HOLE" and you will see why by the way his face is peeling back LOL. I have one of your flags enroute right now up north to JAF again for the memorial of LCPL George who was killed in a direct fire attack a few days ago. I have attached the link with his story as well.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/081905_local_soldierkilled.html
Also i took one of the flags to a memeorial service yesterday for a female 1LT Laura Walker from Texas. She was killed in an IED attack in southern Aghanistan. She worked here with us for about two months.
Great kid and a third generation West Point Grad. I have proposed naming our airfield here after her. Her platoon are actually the ones rebuilding and upgrading it so i think it would be fitting.
Take care more reports to follow and hopefully better news.
Devin
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STORY ATTACHED:
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G.I.s' Earthly Rite
Troops bury pieces of WTC, Pentagon in Afghan soil
By James Gordon Meek, Daily News Washington Bureau
OBSERVATION POST FOUR, Afghanistan - It took a pickax to chip away at the rocky soil and make a hole big enough for the two tiny pieces of concrete and limestone from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
While a pair of 82nd Airborne Division troopers dug, a dozen other soldiers made their way to the spot about 20 feet down the loose shale from their sandbag bunker at the peak of a long, jagged ridgeline overlooking the border with Pakistan.
These men who have seen several recent close-quarters fights with Al Qaeda were there to reflect on the start of this forgotten war, nearly four years ago.
In the gloved hand of Floral Park, Queens, Pfc. Derek Garrity was a distressed nugget of concrete the size of a silver dollar from the twin towers. It was donated by the family of a victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and brought to the border by the Daily News.
On the other side of the shallow hole, Bravo Company commander Capt. Brandon Teague of Houston held a donated sliver of limestone cut from the west face of the Pentagon after it was hit by an Al Qaeda suicide flight.
Standing amid scattered shell casings, ammo belt links and a broken mortar round from two brutal July firefights, Teague and Garrity leaned over to gently tuck each piece into the blood-red soil.
Pfc. Nicholas Chiruck of upstate Le Roy carefully filled in the hole with a shovel, smoothing over the spot with a few tiny scrapes.
Garrity and Chiruck saluted close relatives lost that awful day.
Garrity told his band of brothers that things had come full circle since the attacks on New York and Washington.
"Al Qaeda brought 9/11 to us, and we brought 9/11 to Al Qaeda," he said, raising his voice above the wind. "This is the line in the sand. This is as far as they come. These pieces stay here, and so do we."
Above on the black crag, a dozen more soldiers used their rifle scopes to scan a ravine marking the border, where Al Qaeda fighters have emerged to launch assaults.
The others bowed their helmets as 2nd Lt. Daniel Byars' prayer brought out raw emotion from under layers of Kevlar. He said the simple objects in the ground "symbolize people."
"I want to thank God for the opportunity to place this here in this part of the world and for letting us do our part to rid the world of terrorists," Byars said.
The group scrambled back up to the sandbags and down the backside of what the G.I.s call "Holy S--- Rock," toward a convoy of Humvees.
The burial site is exceptionally well-guarded.
Besides the heavy machine guns and .50-caliber sniper rifle in Operation Post Four's bunker, a claymore mine will shred the next jihadist who charges over the coils of razor wire and steps onto that sacred ground.
The boys of Bravo Company swear it.
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