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 Rich Castagna was born on December 30, 1987. He graduated from Peters Township High School in 2006. While attending high school he ran track, played football, baseball and hockey. From there he went to Marietta College to major in business and play football.
He went to boot camp October 15, 2008 and was the honor graduate of the class on January 9, 2009. He arrived at the 1st Battalion 2nd Marines Division March 27, 2009 and was deployed to Afghanistan March 4, 2010. He served as a team leader for Charlie Company 3rd Platoon. On April 1, 2010 he sustained injuries to both legs and his right hand from an IED blast while entering a building. He has since lost his middle finger on his right hand and his thumb and pinky had to be pinned on. The doctors do not know if he will ever have full use of his hand. He had a stage 2 concussion and lost both ear drums in the blast. As of right now, he has endured 10 surgeries and has a minimum of 4 more scheduled.
Lance Corporal Tyler Owen Griffin, age 20, was killed in the blast and will never be forgotten. |
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 Well I guess a little bit about me. I graduated from Bellefonte Area High School June 6, 2003 and left for Parris Island on June 9, 2003. I got meritoriously promoted to Prive First Class. Graduated boot camp in September 2003. I went to Camp Gieger to the School of Infantry. I left there in December 2004, then I went to Hawaii for two days supposed to be with 1/3 Alpha Company.
Then I got sent to Camp Pendleton with Second Battalion Fourth Marines, The Magnificent Bastards. This is were I spent my time in the Corps. Feburary 2004 I left for Iraq. I spent seven months in Ramadi Iraq. During this tour I saw some decent combat. I was my squads point man. We lost six Marines from our company. Ramadi was a pretty hot spot. In June 2004 I got promoted to Lance Corporal. In September 2004 we got back to the states.
Then in April of 2005 I left for Okinawa Japan. Did some jungle warfare training there. Got on ship and went to the Phillipenes to do training with the Phillipeno Marines. Except Golf Company we held security on a school while our Combat Engineers put a new roof on it. We got back stateside from that deployment in December 2005. Shortly after that I got promoted to Corporal. Then in September 2006 I left San Diego on the USS Comstock. We headed to Hawaii for resupply and a weekend of Libo. Then off to Singapore for some libo. Then we got to the Gulf in October 2006. I got to Kuwait on Halloween. Then in November 2006 I boarded a helo and they flew Golf Company into Barawanah Iraq and we cleared the city. This is how it was for the next four months. We would clear a city sleeping in random houses every night, then move to the next city. We ended up in Haditha Iraq, Al buhiat and some more. We didnt recieve much contact that deployment. My first tour in Iraq was much more exciting. We had a five minute firefight early on. Then we had a humvee blown up by an IED no one was KIA just five WIA. Then on Feburary 7, 2007 I was at a checkpoint that the B.C. and the B.Sgt.Maj. wanted to see so my squad had to escort them there. Then we were getting ready to leave. Thats when the suicide bomber walked into the checkpoint and blew up.The blast killed the Sgt. Maj. I was standing next to him. I ended up in Germany for two weeks in the hospital waiting until I was stable enough to fly stateside. They flew my family over because they didn't think I was going to make it. I got to Bethesda Maryland in mid Feburary 2007 and spent my time in the ICU until the end of April. My legs were amputated at the end of March. I didn't even realize my legs were missing until April 23, two days after my daughter was born. May 2007 I got out of the ICU and went to Walter Reed in June 2007 to get fitted for prostetics. May 2007 I got promoted to Sergeant. And thats about it. I have had two surgeries on my left arm and two surgeries on my stomach. And the last one in Feburary of 2008 they finally got my abdomial muscles attached back together. My awards and ribbons are as follows: I recieved a Combat Action ribbon for the two tours in Iraq. Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary and Global War on Terrorism Service. Marine Corps Good Conduct second award, Iraq Campaign, Certificate of Commendation for the second tour in Iraq. Sea Service Deployment third award National Defense and Purple Heart and Navy Unit Commendation. If there is anything else you need to know please call or email me. I greatly apprieate what you are doing. I would like to come to the event on August 28, but it is the weekend before my wedding so I don't think that would be a good idea. Hopefully next year. Thank You, Sgt. David Emery Jr. |
 At the time of Jimmy’s death our daughters were 6 years old and 2 years old. Our oldest daughter had a bad feeling about Jimmy’s second deployment from the moment we told her he was going back. When Jimmy deployed the first time, her only concern was that she was going to really miss her daddy. But the second deployment she definitely had a different feeling. From the moment we told her that Jimmy was re-deploying, she made it very clear that he was going to die over there. I remember Jimmy walking in to our room after weeks of Vanessa telling us he was going to die. He walked in and said to me "Vanessa, really believes I am going to die over there," but we both just brushed it off. We were concerned about Vanessa though and Jimmy and I even spoke with Vanessa’s school counselor regarding her feelings about Jimmy re-deploying. When I told Vanessa that Jimmy had died, she simply replied, "I told you" and began to cry. |
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  Cpl. Kenny was in his second tour in Iraq. The first brought him to the city of Fallujah, not far from the spot where he died. Though he worked in war zones where bombings and death are common, Cpl. Kenny told his family not to worry about him.
" He always told my mom he would come home and find a wife, and they would give her pretty grandchildren," Katy Kenny said. "That's all he really wanted." |
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