Sgt. Omar L. Mora, 28, of Texas City, Texas
Sgt. Omar Mora had been a United States citizen for a only few weeks when he lost his life fighting on behalf of his newly-adopted country.
Mora came to the United States as a toddler from Ecuador. He grew up in Texas City where he was "well-liked by his soccer team," reports his mother, Olga Capetillo. Mora enjoyed working on cars and was involved in programs for children at his local church, St. Mary of the Miraculous Medal.
While attending College of the Mainland, Mora felt drawn to the Army and service his country. His family said he "always wanted to join the military and thought he owed it to his country — before he was even a citizen — to join the war effort."
An infantryman, within three years he earned the rank of sergeant in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. A legal permanent resident in the United States, Mora wanted to join the Army Special Forces, which requires US citizenship. He received his citizenship papers just a few weeks ago.
"My son gave his life for his country because he loves his country, and because this country raised him like he was its own," Olga Capetillo said.
Yet Capetillo said Mora seemed to grow increasingly disturbed by the poverty and pain afflicting Iraqi children and often asked his family to send cookies and candies that he could pass along to the young Iraqis.
This past April, Mora came home for two week's recovery after his ears were damaged following an explosion of a roadside bomb. Since writing the critical Aug. 19 article with six other active duty U.S. soldiers, his mother said Mora had seemed increasingly depressed and withdrawn. An unusually subdued Mora had called his mother Friday, and the two spoke for what would be the last time.
"He was so quiet, as if he did not want anyone to hear him," said Capetillo, as family and friends encircled her in her Texas City kitchen. "I told him that I was counting the days until he would come home, that I would give him a big hug."
Mora told his mother that he was very tired.
"Maybe he had a premonition that something was going to happen to him, that he was not going to come back," said a weeping Capetillo. "My son escaped death two times before. But this time, no."
November would have marked the end of his 15-month deployment.
Sgt. Omar Mora leaves behind his mother Olga Capetillo, father Robert Capetillo, sister Erica Capetillo, an adored wife and a five-year-old daughter.
His sister said his wife and 5-year-old daughter were his strength and motivation.
"I gonna tell Jordan her father was a really great man. He was a really great man. He loved everybody. He loved his family so much," said Erica Capetillo, Omar’s sister.
Our heartfelt sympathies to the grieving family that Omar Mora "loved...so much."
A video story can be viewed at khou.com.
A photo of Olga Capetillo, holding a photo of Omar Mora and his daughter Jordan, can be viewed here.
(Thank you, noweasels, for those links.)
Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, 26, of Ismay, Montana
"He was doing what he wanted to do all his life," according to folks interviewed last Tuesday about Staff Sgt. Yance Gray. For Yance (mostly pronounced Yancy but sometimes Yanss, and used interchangeably with Tell, claimed his local family), that was to be a soldier, an Army Ranger.
Gray grew up in the small (25 residents!) town of Ismay, and graduated high school from Plevna, about 19 miles from Ismay. There were 18 students in his graduating class. Yancy Gray 'played basketball', was 'an avid hunter', and was well-liked in the tiny community.
Yancy Gray felt so strongly about his military service that he re-enlisted a few years ago, despite his repeated deployment overseas. "He loved being in uniform," assured Gray's family and friends.
Some of his family members shared their thoughts on Yance with the Miles City Star.
Karen Gray, his mother, said she mostly feels numb, but takes some solace in a couple of things that happened recently. They are rooted in her firm faith.
"A couple nights before it happened, I was complaining to the Lord that I hadn't heard from him in a long time," Karen said. "I wanted something from him, not just something his wife passed on. On Tuesday, I went out to mow the lawn, and the lawnmower wouldn't start. I went inside and the phone was ringing. It was all static-y, and I yelled that they would have to call back. He called me back, and yelled, 'It's me, Yance, your son!' I got to talk to him for half an hour. Then I went back out, and the lawnmower started right up. That was the Lord's hand. He was preparing us.
"I also got an e-mail Tuesday, about half an hour after the call. God didn't just give me a phone call, he gave me an e-mail."
[snip]
[Yance's father] Rich received a brief call on Father's Day, which Karen picked up. "He said, ‘Mom, I can't talk,’" she recalled. "He told Rich, 'I can wish you happy Father's Day, and I've got to go.' He always was thinking of us."
[snip]
[Karen] also recounted something Yance's younger sister, Elizabeth Muri, said. "They call him the Tin Man over there," Karen said. "He never refused a mission, he never took a day off. That's what his wife said when she called this morning — why couldn't he take the day off?"
"He never did brag about anything," Rich said. "A lot of his achievements, you'd hear about them from his wife, but he'd never (talk about them)."
Yance met [his wife] Jessica on a blind date when she was in Miles City while taking a break from a Rapid City nursing school.
"She said, 'I don't know why I took the summer off; I could be done by now,'" Karen recounted. "Her mother said, 'Oh, there's a reason.' Well, it turned out Yance was the reason."
At Christmas time in 2003, Yance told his family he intended to propose to Jessica.
"On the 24th, he proposed, and on the 26th, he snuck off to Miles City and got married. Borden (Yance's older brother) and (friend Travis) Ehrich stood up for him," she added, noting that the move was a procedural maneuver "just to get the paperwork done so she'd be covered because he was going on tour. He came back in August and did the ceremony."
[snip]
"He was a good brother," Elizabeth said. "Even over there, he'd e-mail me and say, 'If you need anything, I'm here.' When he called, he'd ask about Mom and Dad. He worried about everybody but himself."
"He cared for all of us," Rich added, "but there's no doubt his wife and daughter were at the top of his list."
[snip]
"He loved one woman, his wife Jessica, with a fervor that I think few men will realize," [his Pastor, Pat] Linger said.
"A couple weeks ago," Elizabeth added, "I was talking to her, and she said 'Whatever happens, I'm glad I've had this time with him."
Karen indicated Elizabeth's 5-year-old son, Orin.
"This little one here said, 'It's all right, Grammy, we're going to see him in heaven again.' That's given me a lot of strength."
Gray, who grew up on a ranch outside of town, believed strongly in the order and structure of the Army, said Marge Griebel, who is married to Gray’s grandfather. She said the decision to write the New York Times editorial must have been difficult.
"I thought it was pretty brave of them to do that," she said. "It is good that some of us people back here can hear some of those things.
"They must have put a lot of thought and time into that letter before they put it out."
Griebel called Gray, whose tour of duty was scheduled to finish in November, a hero and said the family was grief-stricken.
"It was something they knew could happen, but they just kept praying that it won't," she said.
Yance Gray is mourned by his parents, Richard and Karen Gray, brother Borden Gray, and sister Elizabeth Muri. He leaves an adored wife, Jessica Erin Gray and a five-month-old, Ava Madison Gray, who live in North Carolina.
Our heartfelt sympathies to Yance's grieving family and friends.
A photo of Sgt. Gray can be found here, and there is a video story available here.
(Thank you, noweasels, for those links.)
As of this writing, Iraq Coalition Casualties reports that 3780 American soldiers, sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Guardsmen have been confirmed killed in action in Iraq; 438 have died in Afghanistan; and 8 additional deaths are pending notification of the families. The DoD news releases can be found here. The death toll among Iraqis is unknown, but is at least in the tens of thousands.
You can help our military men and women! Please consider sponsoring a deployed service member at TroopCarePackage.com. It doesn’t take much time or money. Just send letters or care packages to your soldier, sailor, Airman, or Marine. "Mail is gold" for a deployed soldier. A few minutes of your time and one airmail stamp can make a real difference in a military person's life. anysoldier.com, Operation Helmet, and Fisher House are also wonderful organizations that provide comfort and care to deployed American troops. Finally, if you would like to assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here. Animal companions can provide such solace and comfort.
About "I Got the News Today" (IGTNT)
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor service members who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; its title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one.
Click here to see the entire series, which was begun by i dunno and which is now maintained by monkeybiz, Sandy on Signal, silvercedes, noweasels, greenies, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, MsWings, twilight falling, labwitchy, moneysmith, joyful, roses, and sistwo.
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and families of the service members chronicled here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.
