From our 2016 Kona Countdown… The date was June 21, 2003 and Captain David Rozelle was in his Humvee on a mission in Iraq. Their vehicle drove over an anti-tank land mine and Rozelle, who was sitting directly above where the explosion was centered, was bleeding profusely from his arms, legs and face. Within…
Daniel Casara was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and on September 23rd of that year the M113 he was on rolled over a tank mine. Two were killed and four, including Sergeant Casara, were seriously injured. He had bilateral fractures to his right tibia and fibula, a shattered left tibia, shattered heel and ankle bones…
Evan Morgan was on his second tour of duty in Iraq on New Year’s Day 2005 when his vehicle hit an IED. Morgan ended up losing his right leg above the knee, his left leg below the knee, and his right eye. He was only 21 years old. Despite nearly 40 surgeries, he was able…
The date was April 4, 2004. Camp Taji is located 30 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq. Army Major Anthony Smith, a former scholarship athlete at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss. in football, basketball and track, was part of the 1st Calvary Division, 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. “We were a special operations group that…
I wrote this article several years ago, and it stays with me to this day. On the anniversary of 9/11, I think of the Birnbaum family, and all of the families who were changed forever. About four and a half hours into the January 2002 edition of the San Diego Marathon, race director Lynn Flanagan…