Michael L. Ruoff, Army, Staff Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Michael L. Ruoff Jr., 31

Army, Staff Sergeant
Based: Schweinfurt, Germany
1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: July 1, 2007
Ta'meem, Iraq
Married, 2 children
Gender: Male
Hometown: Yosemite
Burial: Lakeside Cemetery, Canon City, Colo.

He died before I was 11. But I know he is in heaven.

— Danielle Ruoff, daughter in the Colorado Springs Gazette

From Military Times:

Army Staff Sgt. Michael L. Ruoff Jr.
Died July 1, 2007 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

31, of Yosemite, Calif.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; died July 1 in Ta’meem, Iraq, of wounds sustained from enemy small-arms fire. Also killed was Sgt. 1st Class Raymond R. Buchan.
Yosemite soldier killed in enemy fire in Iraq

YOSEMITE, Calif. — A soldier from Yosemite was killed by enemy fire in Iraq, the Defense Department said July 3.

Staff Sgt. Michael L. Ruoff Jr., 31, died July 1 of wounds suffered from enemy small-arms fire in Ta’meem, an area where American forces have been struggling with insurgents since 2003, officials said.

Sgt. 1st Class Raymond R. Buchan, 33, of Johnston, Pa., also was killed in the attack, officials said.

Ruoff was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany. He joined the Army in 1994 at the age of 18 and was stationed for a time at Fort Carson, Colo.

His family lives in Colorado.

Read more about Army Staff Sergeant Michael L. Rouff Jr.

in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Staff Sgt. Michael L. Rouff previously remembered at Boom3 July 1, 2010.

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Also killed was Sgt. 1st Class Raymond R. Buchan.
From Military Times:

Army Sgt. 1st Class Raymond R. Buchan
Died July 1, 2007 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

33, of Johnston, Pa.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; died July 1 in Ta’meem, Iraq, of wounds sustained from enemy small-arms fire. Also killed was Staff Sgt. Michael L. Ruoff Jr.
Western Pa. soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A Western Pennsylvania soldier who spent nearly his entire adult life in the military was killed during his second tour of duty in Iraq.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Richard Buchan, 33, of Johnstown, died July 1 in Ta’meem, Iraq, of wounds from small-arms fire, according to the Defense Department.

Buchan was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.

Buchan spent 16 years in the Army, his father, Richard, told The Associated Press on July 3.

Buchan, who also had been stationed once at Fort Hood, Texas, was redeployed to Iraq last fall, his father said.

Staff Sgt. Michael L. Ruoff Jr., 31, of Yosemite, Calif., also died from small-arms fire in Ta’meem on Sunday.

Raymond Buchan graduated in 1991 from Westmont Hilltop High School, where he played football and basketball, his brother, Philip, said.


“He loved his family tremendously,” Philip Buchan told The Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown. “He loved his work. He wanted to be there for his troops. That’s what he truly loved.”

A funeral service will be scheduled in Johnstown, family members said. Buchan will be buried in Erie, his wife’s hometown.

Buchan is survived by his wife, Laura, and their two sons, Hayden and Andrew, all of whom live in Germany, as well as his parents and a brother.

Mark D. Taylor, Army, Major -- Rest In Peace

Mark D. Taylor , 41

Army, Major

Based: Ft. Bragg, N.C.

782nd Main Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division

Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom

Died: March 20, 2004

Fallouja (near), Iraq

Single, 1 child

Gender: Male

Hometown: Stockton

High School: Lincoln High (Stockton)

Burial: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.

Before Army Maj. Mark D. Taylor deployed to Iraq in August, he put a set of dog tags around his 6-year-old son Connor's neck and told the boy, "Wear them until Daddy comes home."

"The little boy has never taken them off," said Taylor's mother, Roberta Taylor.

The boy's 41-year-old father was killed March 20 when a rocket hit his living area in Fallouja. Taylor was a surgeon assigned to the 782nd Main Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C.

Taylor first served in Kuwait and Iraq from February to May 2003 and was redeployed in August. His work entailed setting up hospital tents and treating soldiers and civilians. "He told us recently that this Iraqi woman, six months pregnant, had been shot and he operated on her," his mother said. "He operated on little kids. He was very proud of what he was doing."

"We spoke with him on Thursday night [March 18] and he was killed on Saturday [March 20]," his mother said from the family home in Stockton. "The main thing he would always say was, 'Don't worry, Mom and Dad. We're safe.' "

Taylor will be buried April 8 at Arlington National Cemetery, where his parents plan one day to be buried with their only child. "He is a hero and we felt that that's the best place to be," his mother said.

Read the entire LA Times article about Army Major Mark D. Taylor here, find more at Military Times, Fallen Heroes and visit Major Taylor's Guest Book.

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Also killed with Taylor was Army Spc. Matthew J. Sandri, 24, of Shamokin, Pa.

Cornell C. Chao, Army, Chief Warrant Officer -- Rest In Peace

Cornell C. Chao , 36

Army, Chief Warrant Officer
Based: Ft. Hood, Texas
4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: January 28, 2007
Najaf (north of), Iraq
Engaged
Gender: Male
Hometown: Fullerton
High School: Sunny Hills High (Fullerton)
Burial: Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier

[But] on Jan. 28, the 36-year-old Fullerton man was killed along with his co-pilot, Capt. Mark T. Resh, 28, of Pittsburgh when their Apache was shot down and crashed north of Najaf, Iraq, south of Baghdad. Both were assigned to the 4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division at Ft. Hood, Texas.

In a letter home Jan. 20, he told his mother not to worry. He said he had protected many American soldiers. He said the missions were dangerous but that he would be all right.

"He was such a kind and loving person," said his mother, Jasmine Crowl of Orange. "He liked to protect the ground troops."

Back home, Chao made sure to visit the elderly residents of the assisted-living center where his mother worked. Drawn to the youthful veteran, seniors at the center treated him like a surrogate grandson, writing to him in Iraq and throwing him a party.

Chao was born in Los Angeles and lived in Spain and Georgia while his father worked as a civil engineer for Bechtel Corp.

When the family moved to Fullerton, Chao took up golf, eventually playing on the Sunny Hills High School team.

From an early age, Chao set his own path. "He didn't follow, and he didn't expect to be followed," said Shane Ahn, who met Chao in fifth grade and was close to him through high school. "In many respects, he knew his path well before anyone else [in our class] did."

Chao joined the Army right after graduation. He started at the bottom -- an enlisted man serving in the infantry in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. After a brief stint at Long Beach City College, he made the military his career.

Read the entire LA Times article about Army Chief Warrant Officer Cornell C. Chao  here and read more here.