RELEASE NUMBER: 060427-01
DATE POSTED: APRIL 27, 2006
Quote:
PRESS RELEASE: Special Forces Soldier dies in Iraq U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Apr. 27, 2006) — A U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier based here died April 25, 2006, during combat operations in central Iraq.
Sgt. 1st Class Richard J. Herrema was killed in combat during operations April 25, 2006, in Iraq against known enemies of the United States of America.
He was born March 28, 1979, in Grand Rapids, Mich., and graduated from Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Mich.
He first entered the U. S. Army as an infantryman on Jan. 11, 1999. After completion of initial Basic Entry Training, he was assigned to B Company, 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky., and then as a Squad Leader in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell. He graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course in June 2003 as an 18D SF Medical Sergeant and was assigned as an instructor in G Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C. His last assignment was as a team member assigned to the U. S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.
In addition to the Special Forces Qualification Course, he completed numerous military courses including the Air Assault Course; the Combat Lifesaver Course; the Ranger Course; the Basic Airborne Course; the Special Operations Medical Sergeant Course; the Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course; the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape Course; and the Military Freefall Course.
His awards and decorations include two Army Commendation Medals, five Army Achievement Medals, two Army Good Conduct Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War On Terrorism Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with numeral two, and the Army Service Ribbon. During his career he had also earned, the Military Freefall Parachutist Badge, the Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge and both the Special Forces and Ranger Tabs.
Herrema was posthumously promoted to Sgt. 1st Class. He was also posthumously awarded a Bronze Star Medal for valor, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
He is survived by his parents, Richard and Mary Herrema, and his sisters, Katie Lynn and Janie Lynn Herrema.
__________________
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
__________________ Let us conduct ourselves in such a fashion that all nations wish to be our friends and all fear to be our enemies. The Virtues of War - Steven Pressfield
__________________
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither Thou goest." - Ecclesiastes 9:10
"If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so." - JRRT
"May God be with you and may the devil be crushed underfoot as you march for peace on the skulls of our enemies, for goodwill, security and a quality of life that comes only with democracy, " - Ted Nugent
Linear Mode
