Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Henry. Petithory Hometown

Sergeant First Class Daniel Henry Petithory, USA

SFC Daniel H. Petithory, 32, was a Communications Sergeant assigned to ODA 574, Company A, 3^rd Battalion, 5^th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He was killed in action during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Dan was born in Massachusetts on June 30, 1969. He graduated from Hoosac Valley High School in Massachusetts in 1987. After enlisting as a Military Policeman in September 1987, he served a tour at Fort McClellan, Alabama. After completion of the Special Forces Qualification Course Dan was assigned to the 5^th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Kentucky in 1992. While there Dan served as a Communications Sergeant on both ODA 572 and ODA 574.

During his tenure of military service, Dan participated in contingency operations in Kuwait, Haiti, Africa and throughout Southwest Asia

His awards and decorations include two Army Commendation Medals, one Army Achievement Medal, the United Nations Medal, the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Special Forces Tab, Expert Infantrymen’s Badge, Air Assault Badge and the Senior Parachutist Badge.

He is survived by his parents, Louis and Barbara Petithory; a brother, Michael and a sister Nicole.

Petithory, 34, was a communications sergeant assigned to OAD-574, Co. A, 3rd Bn., 5th SFG (Abn.), in his 14th year of service. He participated in contingency operations in Kuwait, Haiti, Africa and throughout Southwest Asia. He is survived by his parents, Louis and Barbara Petithory, a brother, Michael and a sister, Nicole.

Lest We Forget: Remarks by Captain Jason Amerine, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne)

Note: Capt. Jason Amerine commanded the special forces team that was hit by an errant airstrike on Dec. 5, 2001. Three 5th Special Forces Group soldiers were killed: Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Henry Petithory and Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser. Twenty other 5th Special Forces Group soldiers, including Capt. Amerine, were injured. Capt. Amerine made the following remarks at a commemoration service at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "We have shared the incommunicable experience of war. We have felt -- we still feel -- the passion of life to its top. In our youths our lives were touched by fire."

On September 11th, the men of my detachment were in a Central Asian country training young soldiers who were commanded by veterans of the last war in Afghanistan. That night, as we were sitting down to eat, I received a phone call from [Sgt. 1st Class] Dan Petithory who was at the American embassy. I could tell he was fighting back tears as he described what was taking place in New York and Washington. [Master Sgt.] Jefferson Davis, the team sergeant, sat down with the detachment and began to prepare them for the war that we wanted to fight. Our greatest fear was not death but the fear that we would not get a mission that would let us make a difference.

Only weeks later my team was in Afghanistan working with Hamid Karzai and his anti-Taliban forces to rid Afghanistan of the terrorists responsible for that tragedy. We grew close as a detachment . . . and we grew close to the brave Afghani fighters with whom we fought. Our mission was not one of revenge. It was a mission to help the people of Afghanistan and in so accomplishing this noble duty to rid their country of the terrorists who wounded America so grievously.

On November 16th, the town of Tirin Kowt deposed their Taliban administration and declared themselves free from the tyranny of that regime. The Taliban launched 500 men to retake that town but my team and Karzai’s rag-tag force of freedom fighters arrived first. We defended the town in a tense battle that lasted several hours. When it was over, we held the town. Hamid Karzai later learned that the Taliban planned to sack the town and slaughter the innocent families that lived there as a form of retribution.

The pride we felt that day will stay with us forever. Even now it sustains us in our sorrow. We came to kill the enemy -- to rid Afghanistan of the terrorists who dwelled there. We departed for war with fresh memory of what Al Qaeda had done to the men and women of our country on September 11th. We stopped the people of Tirin Kowt from facing a similar tragedy at the hands of their countrymen.

Less then a week ago, my team and the headquarters with us suffered terrible losses.

Master Sergeant Jefferson Davis was a father to the men of the detachment.

Sergeant First Class Dan Petithory was our older brother.

Staff Sergeant Cody Prosser was my friend.

Brave pilots took to the skies immediately to fly across Afghanistan in broad daylight to get us out. The doctors, nurses and technicians who cared for our wounded kept us alive. The quality of the care we received. . . the love and devotion showed by everyone to my wounded. . . will never be forgotten by my men or me. We could not have penetrated so deep behind enemy lines without faith that they would be there for us. Our faith was requited on that dark day.

The war continues in Afghanistan. Our prayers are with the servicemen and servicewomen who continue to perform their duties with the greatest measure of devotion across the world to ensure that the attacks of September 11th will never be repeated. Our prayers are with the families of our fallen brothers and our brothers who struggle to recover from their injuries. Our prayers are with the families of the victims of the attacks upon America and their fallen loved ones.

Now my team must recover just as our nation continues to recover. We will mourn our dead, will heal our wounded, and with heads held high, we will anxiously await the next opportunity to serve our country. Our fallen will not be forgotten. September 11th will not be forgotten.

"In the words of Tennyson:

Though much is taken, much abides; and though
we are not now that strength which in old days
moved Earth and Heaven, that which we are, we are,
one equal temper of heroic hearts,
made weak by time and fate, but strong in will,
to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

De Oppresso Liber

My heart and my prayers are with Sgt. Petithory and his family, today, and every day. The moonbats responsible for the defacing of the Memorial do not speak for the majority of America.

The United States of America stands behind our troops, and their families. We are ever grateful and thankful for the sacrifices made by our Military and their families.

America is proud of our Troops and their actions to put an end to the brutality, terror and barbaric acts suffered by so many for so long and to finally put an end to terrorism.

America is thankful and grateful for the sacrifices that our troops and their families make to protect and preserve our way of life.

As for me, well I can never thank our Troops enough for all they do to protect the United States and my personal freedom.