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THANKSGIVING WEEK WAR DEAD from cryptome.org Spc. Jason A. McLeod, 22, of Crystal Lake, Ill., died Nov. 23, west of Pashmul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with mortar fire. He was assigned to the 704th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.  (photo courtesy cryptome.org) Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Pucino, 34, of Cockeysville, Md., died Nov. 23 in Pashay Kala, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group of the Maryland Army National Guard in Glen Arm, Md. Sgt. Briand T. Williams, 25, of Sparks, Ga., died Nov. 22, in Numaniyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga. Lance Cpl. Nicholas J. Hand, 20, of Kansas City, Mo., died Nov. 22 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. From: Cording CIV Raymond E Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 9:29 Subject: Wreaths Across America To all, Three years ago we started the Wreaths Across America program at Beaufort National Cemetery. The first year we had seven wreaths, one each to honor the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, and POW/MIA. The second year we had about 70 and last year we had 312 to honor the servicemen and women who went before us buried at Beaufort National Cemetery. If you wish to help honor those buried at Beaufort National Cemetery you can sponsor wreaths for $15.00 each by contacting Wreaths Across America at http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/Sponsor-a-Wreath.html and use the code SCBNCB <http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/View-user-profile.html?user=360> . Thanks, Ray from tom sheehan Postscript to Veterans’ Day I saw them one day earlier in the year at Riverside Cemetery, almost invisible in their khaki color atop gravesites at the Veterans Section; small plastic soldiers not much more than an inch long, decorating many sites, small enough that the eye has to search them out in the midst of fallen leaves, brown grass, natural detritus gathering up the days, small enough to catch at my heart, small enough to say a great big thank you for what had here transpired, and transpires daily. Small enough and big enough to catch up memories. I like to think it’s some youngster, perhaps nine or ten years old, who accompanies his father or mother or grandfather or grandmother, locked up by memories, into the Veterans’ Section of our Riverside Cemetery and who has grasped a most remarkable sense of where he’s at and what this flag-waving is all about that surrounds him, where each gravesite is decorated with a small Star Spangled banner. I like to think it’s that youngster who, in his own way and of his own choice, has decided to add his specific decoration to each grave site, a youngster who has apprehended a sense of devotion and duty that calls for obligation and thanks. I picture him at recess in one of our schoolyards, or at class, or thinking of people he has never met but knows all about. I picture him growing strong and brave and never having to know the weight of a rifle on his shoulder, a trigger at his finger, a deadly craft in his hands, but ready if he is called. As the veterans’ names were being read at the memorial in front of the old high school site on Veterans’ Day, I thought of him as comrades and teammates and classmates by the dozens were announced to those who had come to pay their respects. I projected this youngster onto Stackpole Field, World Series Park, the Kasabuski Brothers Memorial Rink in a few years time, getting stronger, becoming proficient in his efforts, being ever a part of Saugus, and still remembering what had impelled him to graveside decoration. Again today I thought of him, and then, in a still moment, wondered if it was some old man, older than me, who in his special way was saying hello again to old friends, old teammates, old comrades. Either way, he’s a winner. http://cryptome.org/index.htmlhttp://cryptome.org/index.htmlhttp://cryptome.org/index.htmlhttp://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/Sponsor-a-Wreath.htmlhttp://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/Sponsor-a-Wreath.htmlhttp://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/View-user-profile.html?user=360http://www.thunderrun.us/http://www.thunderrun.us/shapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3shapeimage_3_link_4shapeimage_3_link_5