US Army Sergeant Jeremy Summers

US Army Sergeant Jeremy R. Summers, died on 14th July 2011 from wounds he received during a battle with enemy forces the previous day. The incident, involving small-arms fire, happened in Paktika province, Afghanistan.

27-year-old Sgt. Summers, from Mount Olivet, Kentucky, served with the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell.

Sgt. Summers joined the Army in March 2005 and transferred to Fort Campbell in August 2009. He leaves behind his parents.

More information to follow.

Canadian Army Trooper Stefan Jankowski

Canadian Army Trooper Stefan Jankowski, age 25, died in Canada from a prescription drug overdose on Saturday 9th July 2011. He had been suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since returning from combat duties in Afghanistan.

Dodging bullets, seeing a boy with his face blown off and holding a dead friend in his arms was more than Trooper Jankowski could bear. He suffered anxiety, depression and insomnia as well as the horrors of war.

He served with the Royal Canadian Dragoons.

Note: Trooper Jankowski is one of thousands of troops from all nations who suffered from PTSD after serving in Afghanistan. We have included him on this website as a tribute to his service in Afghanistan.

Décès du second maître Benjamin Bourdet.

Le second maître Benjamin BOURDET du commando Jaubert est tombé au champ d’honneur au cours d’un accrochage dans la vallée d’Alasay, en Kapisa, le 14 juillet 2011.

Né le 25 janvier 1981 à Cherbourg, le second maître Benjamin BOURDET est entré dans la Marine nationale le 28 avril 2003. Il choisit la spécialité de fusilier marin et suit le cours du brevet d’aptitude technique de fusilier marin à Lorient.

A l’issue de sa formation, en novembre 2003, il est affecté au Groupement de fusiliers marins de Brest. Autonome et dynamique, il se voit rapidement confier des fonctions de chef d’équipe. Très disponible, il effectue entre 2004 et 2007, quatre missions en Nouvelle Calédonie.

Promu second maître le 1^er septembre 2007, il rejoint la compagnie de fusiliers marins de l’Ile Longue. Grâce à sa grande motivation et à sa détermination, il réussit la sélection du stage commando début 2008 et reçoit son béret vert.

Affecté au commando Jaubert, en mai 2008, il est projeté deux fois à Djibouti. En 2009, il participe au premier déploiement d’équipes de protection embarqué en océan Indien afin de lutter contre la piraterie.

Qualifié tireur de précision, il était déployé en Afghanistan pour la première fois.

Le second maître Benjamin Bourdet avait été récompensé par une citation avec attribution de la médaille d’or de la défense nationale. Il était également titulaire de la médaille de la défense nationale échelon argent avec agrafes Fusiliers Marins et Bâtiments de combat.

French Commando Benjamin Bourdet

French Special Forces Commando Benjamin Bourdet was killed in action on 14th July 2011 in the Alasay Valley, Kapisa province, Afghanistan during a battle with enemy forces.

The 30-year-old Commando was born in Cherbourg and joined the French Marines in 2003. Between 2004 and 2007 he deployed four times to New Caledonia. He was promoted to Petty Officer rank in September 2007 and assigned to a Marine unit guarding nuclear submarines. He deployed twice to Djibouti on operations against maritime piracy.

Second-Master Bourdet was on his first deployment to Afghanistan. He holds the Gold and Silver National Defense Medals.

US Marine Lance Corporal Robert Greniger

21-year-old US Marine Lance Corporal Robert S. Greniger, from Greenfield, Minnesota, died on 12th July 2011 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

L-Cpl. Greniger served with the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

More information to follow.

French Paratroop Warrant Officer Jean-Marc Gueniat

French Paratroop Warrant Officer Jean-Marc Gueniat, age 37, was one of five French soldiers killed on 13th July 2011 while attending a meeting with village elders in the village of Joybar, Kapisa province. They were all killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb.

WO Gueniat served with the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment. He joined the Regiment in April 1994 and during his military career served in the Central African Republic, former Yugoslavia, New Caledonia and Ivory Coast. 

He deployed to Afghanistan in May this year with the Lafayette Task Force, Battle Group Raptor.

WO Gueniat leaves his wife and two children.

French Army Master Corporal Sebastien Vermeille

French Master Corporal Sébastien Vermeille, age 31, was one of five French soldiers killed on 13th July 2011 while attending a meeting with village elders in the village of Joybar, Kapisa province. They were all killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb.

M-Cpl. Vermeille was a broadcasting operator with the SIRPA Army of Lyon which he joined in 2009. Prior to that he served with the 1st Regiment of Marines in Angoulême. He had previously served in Ivory Coast, Djibouti, New Caledonia, Chad and Kosovo. He deployed to Afghanistan in May this year with Lafayette Task Force, Battle Group Raptor.

M-Cpl. Vermeille leaves behind his wife and two children.

French Paratroop Warrant Officer Emmanuel Techer

French Army Warrant Officer Emmanuel Techer, age 38, was one of five French soldiers killed on 13th July 2011 while attending a meeting with village elders in the village of Joybar, Kapisa province. They were all killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb.

WO Techer, served with the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment. In January 1993 he was admitted to the School of NCOs. Appointed sergeant in 1994, he joined the 17th Engineer Regiment Paratrooper (RGP) of Monta

Until 2007, WO Techer was a technical trainer at the Commando Training Centre in Givet. He later rejoined 17th RGP where he commanded the 2nd Company. During his career, he had deployed on combat missions to Chad (1994 and 2008), Yugoslavia (1995 and 1996), Senegal (1998), Kosovo (1998), New Caledonia (2004). He deployed to Afghanistan in May this year.

WO Techer was awarded the Medal with Overseas clasp Chad, the gold medal of National Defence, with staples Airborne troops, foreign aid and Mission Engineering, the medal of recognition of the nation, the French Commemorative Medal Button former Yugoslavia. He leaves behind his wife.

French Paratroop Warrant Officer Laurent Marsol

French Army Warrant Officer Laurent Marsol, age 35, was one of five French soldiers killed on 13th July 2011 while attending a meeting with village elders in the village of Joybar, Kapisa province. They were all killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb.

WO Marsol, served with the 1st Parachute Regiment (Chasseurs). In June 1998 he joined the 14th Command Regiment and two years later was admitted to the National School of NCOs. During his military career, WO Marsol had been deployed on active duty to Gabon, Kosovo and Chad. This was his second combat tour of Afghanistan deploying on 14th May.

WO Marsol was awarded the Medal with clasps Overseas Côte d'Ivoire, Central African Republic and Chad, the French Commemorative Medal Button former Yugoslavia, the Gold Medal of National Defence, Button "Airborne" Cross with bronze star.

French Paratroop officer, Lt. Thomas Gauvin

French Army officer, Lieutenant Thomas Gauvin, age 27, was one of five French soldiers killed on 13th July 2011 while attending a meeting with village elders in the village of Joybar, Kapisa province. They were all killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb.

Lt. Gauvin, from Caen, served with the 1st Parachute Regiment (Chasseurs). In September 2005, he began studying at the French Military Academy - Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr - where he was top of his class. In August 2008, he joined the Parachute Regiment.

In 2010, he deployed to Central African Republic and deployed to Afghanistan on 6th May 2011. Lt. Gauvin holds the Bronze Medal of National Defense (Airborne Troops) button. He leaves his wife.

US Navy Seaman Aaron Ullom

20-year-old US Navy Hospital Corpsman Aaron Ullom, from Midland, Michigan, was killed in action on 12th July 2011 in Afghanistan while on foot patrol in the Now Zad district of Helmand. He was serving as a medic with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment when the patrol came under insurgent fire.

His mother, Debi Bartley-Ullom, told a local TV news station that her son enlisted in the Navy after a recruiter visited his school. She says he was on his first deployment in Afghanistan.

Corpsman Ullom was a 2009 graduate of Midland High School, where he played football and ran track.

5 French soldiers killed by bomb blast

Five French soldiers have been killed in a bombing in Kapisa province, eastern Afghanistan today 13th July 2011. Four other French soldiers were seriously injured in the attack.

The French troops were guarding a meeting of local leaders in Joybar village when a terrorist suicide bomber detonated a bomb.

The five soldiers served with the French Airborne. Three were named as:

Lieutenant Thomas Gauvin
Warrant Officer Lawrence Marsol
Warrant Officer Emmanuel Techer
Warrant Officer Jean-Marc Gueniat
Master Corporal Sebastien Vermeille

Danish Army Konstabel Alexander Biune

23-year-old Danish Army Konstabel Alexander Biune was killed in Helmand province on 10th July 2011 by the blast from a roadside bomb. He died in a military field hospital in Camp Bastion after being airlifted by helicopter.

Konstabel Biune served with the Jutland Dragoons based at Holstebro. He joined the army in February 2010.

Head of Danish Battlegroup, Colonel Jens Riis, said of Konstabel Biune: "He trusted himself and everyone felt safe when he took the lead. He lead his mates through perilous areas and did it with a conviction that he was better than anyone. He did until this tragic day for all of us."

Konstabel Biune leaves his parents, his girlfriend and two siblings.

Italian Army Paratrooper Roberto Marchini

Italian Army Primo Caporal Maggiore Roberto Marchini was killed by a roadside bomb on Tuesday 12th July 2011 during a joint patrol about 3km from FOB Lavaredo, in Bakwa district, Farah province, Afghanistan. It was the last day of his deployment in Afghanistan.

Cpl. Maj. Marchini, born in 1983, served with the 8th Parachute Engineer Regiment based at Legnago, a unit within the Folgore Parachute Brigade. He was a bomb-disposal engineer on his third overseas combat mission.

He joined the army in 2005 and was proud to be a part of a team specializing in reconnaissance and bomb disposal. He leaves his parents and a sister.

French Army Brigadier Clément Kovac

22-year-old French Army Brigadier Clement Kovac was killed on 11th July 2011 when a colleague accidentally shot him. The incident happened at Operating Base Hutnik in Kapisa province, Afghanistan. He served with the 1st Regiment of Chasseurs.

Brig. Kovac had previously served in New Caledonia and deployed to Afghanistan on 2nd June 2011 as a crew member in a AMX-10 light tank.

His commanding officer said of Brig. Kovak that he was "noted for his sense of responsibility" and that he had "a very good state of mind in all missions he participated in.

The young soldier had been awarded the National Defense Medal (bronze level).