Lance Cpl. Jason T. Little Hometown

Alexander J. Kolasa

Friday, June 02 2006 @ 06:51 AM MDT Mercury News -- WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A soldier from suburban Detroit who died in Iraq served his country with the same pride he had in it while growing up, his mother said Thursday. Cpl. Alexander J. Kolasa, 22, of White Lake Township in Oakland County, died of noncombat causes, the Defense Department announced. Kolasa's mother, Kathy, said in a telephone interview that her son was manning a guard tower north of Baghdad on Wednesday when he suffered a heart attack. "It was very sudden," she said. "From the information I got, he collapsed, they performed CPR for 30 minutes, they electro shocked him. Then they helicoptered him out to a hospital, and that's where he died." Asked if family members had any idea that Kolasa had heart problems, Kathy Kolasa said "absolutely none." Alex Kolasa graduated from Lakeland High School in 2003 and joined the Army in June 2004. "He wasn't sure if he wanted to make a career out of it," his mother said. "He wanted to become a mechanic. He knew finances were tight and he knew the Army was the way to do it. "He was incredibly proud of the country he grew up in," Kathy Kolasa said. "When 9/11 happened, he was so incredibly angry, he wanted to do something for the country he grew up in." Kolasa wrote a letter to his family - one paragraph for each member - that was to be opened only "in case something happened to him," his mother said. Below his signature he wrote, "Proudly served." Kolasa had been in Iraq for six months. He and his widow, Cari, 27, would have celebrated their first wedding anniversary Monday. "They never got to live together as husband and wife," Kathy Kolasa said. "Her term for him was, `He's incredible.'" Kolasa is also survived by his father, David, and an older sister and brother. His body was expected to be brought to Michigan in seven to 10 days. "It's never going to be easy, and it's never going to be the same," Kolasa's mother said. Kolasa was assigned to the 704th Main Support Battalion, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas. Two other Fort Hood soldiers died this week, the Pentagon said. Capt. James A. Funkhouser, 35, of Katy, Texas, was killed Monday by the same car bomb that killed two CBS crew members and seriously injured correspondent Kimberly Dozier. An Iraqi interpreter also was killed in the blast, and six U.S. soldiers were injured. The other Fort Hood soldier, Spc. Bobby R. West, 23, of Beebe, Ark., died Tuesday from injuries suffered when a roadside bomb detonated near him during patrol.

Webb, Lance Corporal Brandon J., Swartz Creek, Michigan. Age 20, died Tuesday, June 20, 2006 in Iraq. Funeral service will be held at 4PM Friday June 30, 2006, with full Military Honors at the Swartz Funeral Home, 1225 West Hill Road in Flint, Pastor Terry Sims officiating. Burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Those desiring may make contributions to the VFW-Amvets Post #3720 or Swartz Creek area Fire Department. Visitation 5-8PM Wednesday and 2-4 and 6-8PM Thursday and 2PM Friday until the time of the service at the funeral home. Brandon was born on April 12, 1986, in Mesa, Arizona. He served his country in the United States Marine Corps. Brandon was a member of Swartz Creek Area Fire Department, VFW Post #3720 and Amvets. He enjoyed baseball, golf and hockey. Surviving are mother, Ann Christofferson of Swartz Creek; brother, Austin Christofferson of Phoenix, AZ; father, Kevin Webb of Chandler, AZ; many aunts, uncles, cousins and a host of special friends.

Brandon J. Webb Lance Corporal, United States Marine Corps

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense No. 585-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 22, 2006 Media Contact: Marine Corps Public Affairs - (703) 614-4309 Public/Industry(703)428-0711 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the death of four Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Corporal Christopher D. Leon, 20, of Lancaster, California Lance Corporal Brandon J. Webb, 20, of Swartz Creek, Michigan Private First Class Christopher N. White, 23, of Southport, North Carolina Staff Sergeant Benjamin D. Williams, 30, of Orange, Texas Leon died June 20, 2006, from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.  He was assigned to 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan. Webb, White, and Williams all died June 20, 2006, while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.  They were all assigned to 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California. Media with questions about Leon can call the Okinawa Public Affairs Office at 011-81-611-745-0790.  Media with questions about Webb, White, and Williams can call the Camp Pendleton Public Affairs Office at (760) 725-5044. Red Mountain grad killed in Iraq Rebekah Sanders Courtesy of the The Arizona Republic June 23, 2006 A Marine who was raised in the East Valley and graduated from Red Mountain High School in 2004 died in Iraq on Tuesday. A roadside bomb exploded while Lance Corporal Brandon Webb, 20, was driving an SUV in Fallujah, killing him and two other soldiers, according to his mother, Ann Christofferson. Funeral arrangements had been set for this weekend in Swartz Creek, Michigan, where Christofferson lives, but Marine officials told her Thursday morning that her son's body would not be released in time. After the funeral next week, he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Webb was scheduled to return home from Iraq on August 2, 2006. "He had always wanted to be a Marine, even when he was a little kid," Christofferson said. When Webb told his mom he had joined, "I was scared to death for him, but I wanted him to know he had all of my support," she said. Christofferson said she talked to her son last week. "He was joking and laughing. But he had also seen stuff he hoped he never had to see again." "The only thing he hated was not being able to sleep in a bed," she said. Webb grew up in Tempe and attended McClintock High School his freshman and sophomore years, where he pitched and played first base on the baseball team. When his mother moved to Michigan, he followed, but missed friends in Arizona so much that he returned to the Valley for his senior year. "We were pretty much inseparable," said Private Marcus Otero, 20, of Mesa. Webb lived with Otero's family during senior year. "He was the closest thing to a brother I've ever had." Webb and his mother worked as firefighters in Michigan after Webb graduated, but he decided to become a Marine a year later, persuading Otero to join the military as well. The two saw each other at Christmas last year and were planning to spend time together in September after Webb returned and before Otero left for his tour of duty in Iraq. Otero and Webb remained close with their McClintock baseball coaches, Terry and Kerry Reeder, after high school. Webb called Kerry Reeder from Iraq a few weeks ago, saying he wanted to move back to the Valley after the military and help coach the team. "He loved baseball," Reeder said. In his history classes this semester, Reeder used Webb as an example when discussing the conflict in Iraq and offered the students extra credit to write Webb letters. With the hectic pace of the end of the semester, Reeder hadn't had time to mail them yet.  "I've got 30 letters on my desk right now," he said. "It gives new meaning to those letters." He plans to give them to Christofferson when he and his brother go to the funeral. "He was one of those kids that didn't want to be in the limelight, but he liked being around everybody," said Reeder, whose brother owned a Water & Ice store where Webb worked. "He was just a good kid." Christofferson said the community in Swartz Creek has been supportive, bringing food to her house, calling and dedicating a brick for Webb at the city's proposed veteran's memorial. Otero said Webb's death still doesn't seem real. "He had all kinds of things going for him. He was almost done with Iraq. He was even figuring out what kind of car he wanted to get when he came home," Otero said. "The last thing he said was, 'I'm almost ready to come home. I'll see you soon.' " 6 July 2006: A 20-year-old Marine lance corporal from Michigan was buried today at Arlington National Cemetery. Brandon Webb of Swartz Creek was killed last month when a bomb detonated under his vehicle in Iraq. Family members say he always wanted to be a Marine since he was a young boy. Webb lived in Arizona for most of his life. However, while serving as a firefighter in Swartz Creek he decided to enlist in the Marines in May 2005. About 30 family members and friends gathered at the cemetery, which has more than 250-thousand grave sites. He had served in Iraq since January and was scheduled to return to the U-S on August 2nd.  July 7, 2006 From the time he was a young boy, Brandon Webb wanted to be a Marine. Generations of his family had served in the Marine Corps and Webb saw public service - as a firefighter and a Marine - as his calling. The 20-year-old Marine lance corporal from Swartz Creek, Michigan, was buried Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery after he was killed June 20,2006, when a bomb detonated under his vehicle in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. "He was committed to everything he got into," said his mother, Ann Christofferson. "He never quit anything." Webb lived in Arizona for most of his life and was a 2004 graduate of Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona. Along with his mother, Webb served as a firefighter in Swartz Creek, about 10 miles southwest of Flint, and decided to enlist in the Marines in May 2005. About 30 family members and friends gathered at the cemetery. Under overcast skies, six Marines in dress uniforms gently removed Webb's flag-covered casket from the hearse and brought it to the grave site. During a brief eulogy, Navy Chaplain Lieuetnant Ron Nordan asked mourners to "honor the memory of this great hero." Following his remarks, a seven-member Marine guard fired three shots and a Marine presented Christofferson with the American flag that had covered his casket. Young Marine Was Eager To Follow in Uncle's Path Death Came Just Weeks Before Scheduled Return By Tara Bahrampour Courtesy of the Washington Post Friday, July 7, 2006 Brandon J. Webb was good at a lot of things. "He was an amazing student," said his older brother, Austin W. Christofferson. "He loved baseball. He liked to pitch. And he loved painting Warhammer figurines."   A Marine gunnery sergeant presents a folded U.S. flag to Austin W. Christofferson, brother of Lance Corporal. Brandon J. Webb,  who was killed June 20 along with two other soldiers from his unit in Iraq  The miniature models of game characters are hand-painted and assembled by the player, and Webb, 20, was a whiz. "They were really realistic," said Christofferson, 22. "He was great at it." He was also a firefighter, a job he did with his mother in Michigan after the family moved there from Tempe, Ariz., where he grew up, according to the Detroit Free Press. He took a leave from that job last year to follow another of his passions: the Marines. "He always wanted to be a Marine," his brother said. "His uncle Eddie was also a Marine." Uncle Eddie never went to war, but Webb was sent to Iraq. The lance corporal was due to return home Aug. 2, his mother, Ann Christofferson, told the Arizona Republic. But Webb was killed in combat in Anbar province June 20, 2006. Two other soldiers from his unit, Private First Class Christopher N. White, 23, of Southport, North Carolina, and Staff Sergeant Benjamin D. Williams, 30, of Orange, Texas, also were killed that day. The men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, California. Corporal Jonathan Santiago, a Camp Pendleton spokesman, said the deaths are under investigation. At Arlington National Cemetery yesterday, the sun beat down as mourners watched six Marines slowly lift Webb's flag-draped coffin out of a silver-colored hearse. As the Marines held the flag aloft over the coffin, Lieutenant Ron Nordan, cemetery chaplain, spoke of the cemetery's history as a place to lay the nation's heroes to rest. "Today we add another hero to the list," he said. Seated a few feet from the coffin and dressed in black, Webb's mother listened and at one point dropped her face into her hands. A few mourners dabbed at their eyes as a rifle salute was fired and a bugler played taps. Marcus Otero, 20, of Mesa, Arizona, told the Republic that Webb had lived with his family during his senior year of high school and was like a brother to him. The report said that Webb had persuaded Otero to join the military as well, and that he will leave for Iraq this fall; the two had planned to spend time together after Webb returned and before Otero left. Otero told the newspaper that Webb was ready to come home and had even picked out the car he wanted to buy upon his return. Austin Christofferson said he admired his brother's initiative. "He led by example," he said. "He put off a real example of how to live your life." Marine Honor Guards carry the coffin of Marine Lance Corporal Brandon J. Webb, 20, of  Swartz Creek, Michigan,  during a funeral ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Thursday, July 6, 2006 A Marine Honor Guard hands off the flag that draped the coffin of Marine Lance Corporal Brandon J.  Webb, 20, of Swartz Creek, Michigan, during a funeral ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Thursday, July 6, 2006 Marine Honor Guards hold the flag that draped the coffin of Marine Lance Corporal Brandon J. Webb,  20, of Swartz Creek, Michigan, during a funeral ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Thursday, July 6, 2006 Ann Christofferson, center, mother of Marine Lance Corporal Brandon J. Webb, 20, from Swartz Creek, Michigan, receives the flag that draped her son's coffin during a funeral ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery,  Thursday, July 6, 2006 Posted: April 2006 Updated: 6 July 2006 Updated: 9 July 2006 Updated: 17 September 2006

Photo Courtesy of Holly, September 2006

The Associated Press

LAKE ORION, Mich. -- He was a stern-faced sniper _ and a soft-hearted Marine who handed out candy to kids in Iraq. He was a warrior who wrote poetry about life and death.

He was featured in Michael Moore's antiwar documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," portrayed as an overzealous Marine recruiter who targeted poor kids.

But Staff Sgt. Raymond Plouhar was far more complicated than that.

And it was that complicated man who died in Iraq in late June, as he served with some of the same men he had recruited years ago. It was that complex man who was buried Friday, by a family that honored his service but would never forget his humanity.

"He had a huge heart," says his widow, Leigha.

Plouhar was a Marine for 10 of his 30 years, but he had dreamed of joining the military ever since he was a little boy who liked to watch "M-A-S-H" on television and dress in fatigues and a camouflage shirt.

He entered the Corps straight out of high school, was trained as a sniper and traveled the world _ Bosnia, Sudan and Israel. He had a ramrod posture and a fierce pride in his appearance: He once ironed his uniform and polished its brass buttons for two hours before allowing his mom to photograph him.

"He told me lots of times that he learned what could be accomplished .. if you put your heart and soul in it _ and he put his heart and soul in the Marine Corps," says his father, also named Raymond. "He was gung-ho from the time he signed his name until the day he died."

His signature was a memorable one.

His birth certificate read Raymond James Byron Anthony Charles Plouhar _ he was named after all his grandfathers. He followed a long family tradition of military service that included a grandfather who earned a Purple Heart in World War II and an older sister, Toni, who was in the Army.

Plouhar carried a Bible from his grandfather, Raymond, to Iraq. He kept it in his left shirt pocket next to his heart. Tucked inside was a photo of his wife and their two sons, Raymond, 9, and Michael, 5.

As devoted as he was to the Marines, Plouhar had a full life outside the military. He liked to hunt and camp, take canoe trips and fish with his boys.

He was known as a charmer, a good talker, a champion of the underdog (always defending and befriending kids picked on in school) and though he was trained to fight and kill, he preferred the role of peacemaker.

"He didn't like turmoil," recalls his mother, Cynthia. "He wanted everybody to be happy, to get along. ... He'd say 'Life's too short to sweat the small stuff.'"

As family members gathered last week in their lakefront home 30 miles north of Detroit, they lined the walls and windows with photo collages that tell Raymond Plouhar's life in chapters.

There's the grinning kid with the protruding ears (a coach once joked he looked like a Volkswagen with the doors open) proudly holding up the bass he caught.

There's the sturdy athlete grappling with an opponent around a wrestling circle and posing in the green-and-white football uniform of the Lake Orion Dragons.

There's the young man in love, sitting with high school sweetheart, Leigha, on his dad's Harley on their way to the prom, then years later, together again, he in Marine blue, she in white, on their wedding day.

Then there's the tough-minded Marine in helmet and combat gear _ doling out candy from a plastic bag two months ago to schoolchildren in Iraq.

"He admired the Iraqi people," his father says. "He said, 'Dad, even though I can't understand a word they're saying, if we were back home ... we'd be buddies.'"

Plouhar was killed on June 26 by a roadside bomb in Anbar province in his second tour of duty in Iraq, weeks before he was to return home. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Plouhar's family says he had no qualms about returning to Iraq and he believed conditions had improved since his first tour in 2005.

"I never worried," Leigha says, "because ... in my head, he was indestructible and nothing could ever happen to him because he was so good at what he did."

His mother says her son preferred to be at the center of the action. In an undated entry in a blog on MySpace.com, Plouhar said "you can call me crazy" but he liked being in Iraq. "Someone has to do it plus I love what I do," he wrote.

Plouhar did step back from active duty for four years and worked as a recruiter in Flint so he could donate a kidney to his uncle.

It was as a recruiter that Plouhar was seen in Moore's award-winning "Fahrenheit 9/11." The segment shows Plouhar and another Marine in a mall parking lot in a depressed suburb of Flint; it suggests the two men were cynically hunting for poor teens to sign up, rather than go to a wealthy suburb where they'd likely be rejected.

Plouhar's father says his son told him he had been misled and believed he was being filmed for a documentary that would appear on the Discovery Channel. (Moore's office didn't return calls or e-mail messages seeking comment.)

"He cried when he found out what it really was," his father says. "He never dreamed that it was going to be something to slam the country, which he dearly loved."

The movie, to be precise, is primarily a criticism of the Bush administration's actions after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

And yet, the elder Plouhar also says he doesn't see anything wrong with his son's actions. "If you really watched just the part with my son in it," he asks, "how could you not say that he was standing tall and proud?"

His parents say they've seen only the segment featuring their son. Leigha Plouhar says her husband asked her not to watch the film _ and she never has. Nor has Stephen Wandrie, his friend of 20 years, who says Plouhar was hurt by the film, but told him:

"'You know what? I know what I do is good for this country and every one of those people I'm recruiting _ those guys are my brothers.' "

In the past month, the bloodshed that has become part of the daily life in Iraq seemed to edge closer and closer. He was shaken up in two explosions.

Two weeks before he died, his mother says, he called and she could hear the strain in his voice. But he tried to be reassuring. "He said, I'll be all right. I don't have much longer. ... I'm ready to come home. I'm ready."

And yet he seemed prepared for the possibility he wouldn't.

In a poem he sent to his family last year _ a poem now enlarged to floor-to-ceiling size, and covering a wall of the Plouhar home _ Plouhar said he knew he could die serving his country and was ready to make the sacrifice.

"I will leave my loved ones, my kids, my wife ...," he wrote. "Do not feel pity for me, for this is my choice. ... This is me. This is who I am. I am a Marine to the very end."