Military Deaths

• Army Staff Sgt. Dennis J. Hansen, 31, originally from Lakeview, died Dec. 5, 2009, from injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit Dec. 3 with an improvised explosive device in Logar province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st...... Full story

ILLINOIS ARMY GUARD SOLDIERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN Marion unit Soldiers killed in action Feb 8   SPRINGFIELD - Staff Sgt. Jason Burkholder, 27, and 1st Lt. Jared Southworth, 26, Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to Headquarters...... Full story

WAPAKONETA — Army Sgt. Jon Michael “Mike” Schoolcraft III loved to make people laugh. And he was certainly good at it.He was the guy you wanted to be friends with; the guy you wanted in your unit when fighting a dangerous war in...... Full story

 WAPAKONETA — Army Sgt. Jon Michael “Mike” Schoolcraft III spent much of his teen years excelling in athletics and participating in activities at Wapakoneta High School. It is only fitting that the slain soldier will be...... Full story

MILILANI, Hawaii — Jon Michael “Mike” Schoolcraft III loved tattoos, his widow said Tuesday.In fact, he loved them so much, she said, he’s probably up in heaven right now getting “ink done.”“When I go to...... Full story

MILILANI, Hawaii — As Amber Van Weort Schoolcraft makes painful preparations to travel to Ohio in the next few days to bury her husband, she reflected Tuesday afternoon on his life and their marriage and courtship, which started near their...... Full story

WAPAKONETA — 5:23 p.m.,  Jan. 21 — Jon Michael “Mike” Schoolcraft III loved kids and wanted children of his own. He’d promised his mother, Cynthia Ann Schoolcraft, of Lima, that he would return home from his...... Full story

LIMA — Army Spc. Jon Michael “Mike” Schoolcraft III had a smile that stood out as one of a kind, like his trademark.Friends, family and people close to the 26-year-old graduate of Wapakoneta High School and Apollo Career Center,...... Full story

   ELIDA — William and Nancy Neff supported their son’s decision to join the Army. They have not wavered from that, even as they continue to mourn his death two months ago in Iraq.    “We supported him in his...... Full story

   SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — When Chris Neff was 12 years old, he had a class assignment writing about what he would be when he grew up.    His first thought was that he’d be a farmer, the Rev. Charlotte Hefner...... Full story

   SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — A church along the route had a verse of Scripture on its sign.    “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have...... Full story

   LIMA — It wasn’t that long ago that Chris Neff was hard at work, perhaps even goofing off or talking to a friend in the hall on the way to a class, at Apollo Career Center and the Shawnee middle and high schools....... Full story

   SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — It was just a few weeks ago when Alan Pollock sat on his front porch chatting with Christian Neff. They talked about school and the service and myriad other subjects that, in the wake of the news of Neff’s...... Full story

   SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — The region has lost another soldier to the Iraq War.    Christian Monroe Neff, a U.S. Army soldier and Shawnee High School and Apollo Career Center graduate has been killed serving in Iraq....... Full story

RUSHSYLVANIA (AP) — A man has honored his son who died in Iraq by designing a 3,300-pound black granite headstone with an almost lifesize image of the soldier, his M-16 at the ready.    Mike Hodge said he agonized for months over the...... Full story