U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Friday, Feb. 25, 2011, at least 4,439 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to iCasualties.org.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 32,009 U.S. service members have been wounded as of Dec. 31, 2010, according to iCasualties.org.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identification:

None

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, Feb. 18, 2011, at least 1,484 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to iCasualties.org.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 9,971 U.S. service members have been wounded as of Jan. 31, 2011, according to iCasualties.org.

Latest identifications:

Army Staff Sgt. Bradley C. Hart, 25, Perrysburg, Ohio, died February 17, 2011 at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, East Africa, of injuries sustained in a non-combat incident. He was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Andrew P. Carpenter, 27, Columbia, Tenn., died Feb. 19, 2011 of wounds received Feb. 14 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Army 1st Lt. Daren M. Hidalgo, 24, Waukesha, Wis., died Feb. 20, 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

Army Sgt. Robert C. Sisson Jr., 29, Aliquippa, Pa., died Feb. 21, 2011 in Kandahar district, Afghanistan, in a non-combat incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Marine Corps Cpl. Johnathan W. Taylor, 23, Homosassa, Fla., died Feb. 22, 2011 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Army Staff Sgt. Jerome Firtamag, 29, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, died Feb. 24, 2011 in Pembroke, Ky. after being medically evacuated from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to the United States on Dec. 1, 2010 for treatment of a noncombat-related illness. He was assigned to the 96th Combat Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

Honor the Fallen

Click to visit the Military Times Hall of Valor

Visit Military Times — The top source for military news

Faces of the Dead
An interactive look at each U.S. service member who died in Afghanistan or Iraq

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2/28/2011 Update: Related report

U.S. Soldier Makes Posters to Remember Fallen

U.S. Army Reserve Cpl. Poto Leifi, a multimedia illustrator deployed to Afghanistan, poses for a photo with his artwork at Kandahar Airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan. By creating a series of Americana-style commemorative posters through his private company “Freedom’s On Me,” Leifi uses his artistic talents to fulfill a personal mission of ensuring the legacy of service members who sacrificed their lives during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. (Photo credit: Matthew Diaz / AP)

By Deb Riechmann

February 27, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Remembering the dead by carving their names on a cold, stone wall seemed too impersonal to U.S. Army Cpl. Poto Leifi.

Leifi, a California commercial artist-turned soldier, thought the U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq should be remembered full of life — and in a way that celebrated their patriotism.

After years of trial and error, Leifi makes posters in a vintage style that recalls the “Rosie the Riveter” and “Uncle Sam Wants You!” recruiting posters of World War II. …

Leifi, a stocky man with black glasses who deployed to Afghanistan in May after a tour of Iraq, launched his project in 2006. But his story begins on 9/11. …

Leifi wanted to enlist, but his colleagues at work persuaded him that at age 34 he was too old.

Leifi stayed busy with his career, designing soles for Skechers, the trendy footwear company, and vintage jazz posters for an art publisher.

Then in 2005, U.S. soldiers at a coffee shop told him he wasn’t too old to join.

Leifi visited a recruiter. A year later, at age 39, he was in basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. …

Leifi is assigned as a multimedia illustrator to a military psychological operations unit in Kandahar province, a key front in the war in southern Afghanistan. He designs the posters after-hours, and has completed 10, using photographs and a computer software program for illustrators.

After he created the first few posters, word spread, especially through meetings of Gold Star Families, the military support organization. Other families commissioned posters, and he now has a backlog of 67 requests.

Leifi, who makes between $50 and $150 an hour as a civilian commercial artist, donates his time and talent. The families get seven free copies of each 16- by 20-inch poster. If they sign a release form, Leifi makes the posters available to others for $25 each, which helps recoup printing and shipping costs. He has sold 237 posters, mostly to friends, other relatives or colleagues of the fallen.

His work for the military ranges from leaflets dropped to Afghans by aircraft to posters that illustrate the dangers of roadside bombs or help the public distinguish Afghan border policemen from Afghan soldiers. …

Full story

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Related project

American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq and Afghanistan (But Not Including the Wounded, nor the Iraqis nor the Afghans) 2004 to present. Pencil on color-coated vellum.

Emily Prince’s American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq and Afghanistan (but not Including the Wounded, nor the Iraqis nor the Afghans) is a tribute to every American soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2004. Comprised of 5,158 drawings — one for every fallen soldier to date — this ongoing memorial project brings attention to the human cost of war, turning statistics back into portraits of real lives sacrificed on the field. Rendered in graphite pencil, each portrait appears on small colored cards that correspond to the skin tone of soldiers, including details about their appearance, posture, and expression, and personal facts such as their name, age, and place of origin. …

Full report

Related report on this site

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Related project

Portrait of a Warrior Memorial Art Gallery

“As you step into the gallery, you are greeted by the sons and daughters of America. The fallen heroes hang as a memorial of their unselfish gift to us all as they gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Their eyes follow you as you stroll gazing at the paintings in which the artist has meticulously portrayed their lives. They were husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, and brave warriors who laid down their lives as they took their oath to defend the freedom we all know and love. Ken “The Dauber” Pridgeon has made it his mission to paint a portrait of these men and women we know as heroes. Each family of the fallen heroes is then given a print as his way of honoring their loved one. …”

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 25, 2010

Iraq Set to Elect Pro-Iran Leader

Thousands of demonstrators march during a rally at Firdous Square in Baghdad, Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who called America “an enemy of Islam,” marched against a pact letting U.S. forces stay in Iraq until 2011 and toppled an effigy of President George W. Bush where U.S. troops once tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein. (Photo credit: Ali al-Saadi / AFP — Getty Images)

One year ago today, I reported that the political movement of Iraq’s best-known anti-American cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, was emerging as a major contender in the March 7, 2010 national elections, raising the specter that the next prime minister of Iraq could be openly hostile to the United States and friendly toward Iran.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — February 25, 2009

Americans Killed in Afghanistan and Iraq

Two years ago today, on Feb. 25, 2009, I reported that four U.S. soldiers and an Afghan civilian working for them were killed in southern Afghanistan when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, while in Iraq two policemen opened fire on U.S. soldiers visiting a police station, killing an American soldier and an Iraqi interpreter, wounding three Americans, and raising concerns about insurgent infiltration.