Jamie Maugans Honored in Derby, KS
Fallen Heroes
MAUGANS, LOCAL HERO, HONORED
In something of a surprise to the family and friends of Jamie Maugans, last week Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt announced a bill that would rename the Derby, KS Post Office to the SGT JAMIE O'DELL MAUGANS POST OFFICE.
Maugan's family had been aware of the idea of renaming something in the city after the war hero, but the announcement still came as something of a surprise. The family had not heard anything more about the movement beyond the initial contact by Tiarht's office in Topeka and only learned of the State's final decision to move forward with the bill after hearing about it on the local news!
As a close friend of Jamie's I was definitely one of those among the shocked and surprised to hear the announcement on the news. His mother would be the first to tell you she was among them too. That's not to say anyone was dissapointed or upset by the honor; quite the opposite. Many people feel that Jamie's actions, like those of the other soldiers were were the first to answer the call of his country, have been overshadowed in a small way by the events taking place in Iraq.
SGT Maugans was an EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) soldier deployed to Afghanistan in November of 2001, just weeks after the September 11th attacks in New York. His task was daunting: secure, catalog, and destroy the millions of tons of weapons, explosives, and landmines riddling the countryside. Afghanistan is notorious for the sheer number of landmines infesting its land. The current estimate is that nearly 284,672 square miles of land mines STILL need to be removed. This does not even include the countless caches of weapons, and unexploded ordinance hidden in caves and buried underground. As a quick frame of reference, the square mile total for the State of Texas is 268,581. It's a SERIOUS problem.
On April 15th, 2002, Jamie along with the rest of his squad were sent out to destroy one such weapons cache discovered in a cave. Unbeknownst to them, the cache had been trapped and as they went about their routine, the trap detonated the cache of weapons, killing SGT Maugans and four others instantly...including another soldier from Kansas.
Family and Friends of SGT Jamie Maugans are proud of him, are honored by his service, and are genuinely happy to have the State of Kansas acknowledge his sacrifice so appropriately with the renaming of the Derby Post Office. This is one of serveral honors Jamie has received from his personal award of the Purple Heart, to the Turnpike renaming the Belle Plaine Rest Stop after him, and to the many web memorials out there acknowledging his service. I'm proud to call him friend.
For More Information about Jamie Maugans please visit his website: http://www.jamiemaugans.com
Chief Everhart
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Memoriam - Sean K. Mitchell
Fallen Heroes
“Not for fame or reward, not lured by ambition or goaded by necessity, but in simple obedience to duty.”
--Inscription at Arlington Cemetary
"Each of these heroes stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live and grow and increase in its blessings."
-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
I'm quite sure no one reading this will know who Sean Mitchell was, but to me he will always be that goofy Private First Class from 1997 at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA.
Sean was one of my best friends in the service...in fact, one of those guys I couldn't have gotten rid of even if I'd wanted to (which I of course did not). We were stationed together at DLI, in the same Russian language class, and were roomates twice during our stay in Monterey. We parted ways briefly when we went to Advanced school, but then....in true "Small World" fashion we were both assigned to the same unit in Germany where we were once again thrown together as bunkmates.
Sean was a terrific guy who was always eager to please, eager to help, and eager to fight for something he believed in. After I ended my tour on active duty, Sean always joked that he would follow me back to Kansas when his tour was done...but he didn't. Sean stayed in the Army, stayed Active Duty for just over 10 years. Something he NEVER would have thought about back in 1997.
As with most distant friendships, we talked a lot on email and messenger over the years...but eventually our communications became more and more infrequent. I had an increasingly demanding career path and Sean...Sean went through three tours in Afghanistan in the last 4 years, quite obviously limiting his ability to communicate. After joining the Army Special Forces, that communication dropped to virtually zero.
The last time I spoke with Sean Mitchell was just after he'd married his wife. I wasn't even aware they'd had a boy. He was happy and in love and didn't think twice about the danger he was putting himself in because he knew he was making the world a better place by putting himself between Terror and the ones he loved. Which is why, after four months of no word from Sean, the message I received today hit like a punch to the gut:
All,
I just wanted to pass on the horrible news that Sean died a few months ago. A friend of his noticed that I left him a MySpace comment and told me that he is no longer with us. He barely got to see his son after he was born before shipping out to Africa. It's hard to believe he's gone; my heart is so heavy. I am trying to get his wife, Sonja's, address to send her a card. Please pass on this email to any other friends that he may have from DLI or 1st MI.
This is the best article I could find about it.
http://livinglegendteam.blogspot.com/2007/07/army-sgt-1st-class-sean-k-mitchell.html
My thoughts are with his wife, son and mother.
Angel
Sean K. Mitchell, friend, husband, father died 7/07/07 from wounds suffered while on duty in the country of Mali, in Africa. His final mission involved training African governments in our fight against Terrorism.
God Speed.
PFC Sean Mitchell, 1997 @ DLI - Learning Russian takes a lot out of a guy!
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