SSG John Doles Posthumus BSM V

[Doc Wilson]

On September 30, 2005 in a forgotten corner of what was then a forgotten war a very dear friend laid down his life. It was orginally a Silver Star recommendation ( infact it was listed in the stars and stripes Europe edition in 2006) but was lost and then later in the end downgraded because of the political flap around a lawful military order. His widow who for years didn't recieve John's last testament to valor contacted me in the early spring of 2010. I used what clout I had left and expended the last of my military capital to achieve this. I share this because for all the certificates that are out there remember the military machine doesn't always recognize or due justice to the men who are gone.

See the attached photo

[Doc Wilson]

Italy-based soldier killed fighting Afghan insurgents

By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes

Mideast edition, Wednesday, October 5, 2005

An Italy-based soldier assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment was killed last week in Afghanistan, military officials confirmed Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. John G. Doles, 29, died in Shah Wali during a battle with insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire on Sept. 30, officials said.

Doles, who leaves behind a wife and two small children, was a native of Claremore, Okla., according to the Pentagon. There was no information available Tuesday as to where or when a memorial service would be held at Vicenza’s Caserma Ederle, where the 508th is based. At least 13 soldiers from the Southern European Task Force (Airborne) have been killed in Afghanistan in the last 6½ months.

Doles’ father told a local Oklahoma television station that his son planned to join the Army Rangers when his tour in Afghanistan was over. John Doles was part of the 173rd Airborne’s combat drop into northern Iraq in March 2003, and was serving his first tour in Afghanistan.

“Everybody’s concentrating on Iraq, which is understandable. But we’re still tracking down al-Qaida and trying to find bin Laden,” Gene Doles told the station.

Doles’ grandmother, Mattieann Kay, was the matriarch of a family that included 26 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. She remembered her grandson as a tough “all-American” kid.

“He wasn’t supposed to go yet — I was. He completed everything he ever started. Even fistfights,” she said, according to The Argus, a Bay Area paper in her California hometown of Fremont.

Doles was “able and fearless,” she recalled.

Family members told the paper a memorial service was planned for Oct. 11 in Chelsea, Okla.

[IrishGunner]

Doc - thanks for sharing. And welcome to the GMIC!

[Doc Wilson]

Doc - thanks for sharing. And welcome to the GMIC!

Thanks Gunner

[Signalcorps45]

Doc,

Thank you very much for sharing.

Dean

[Doc Wilson]

Doc,

Thank you very much for sharing.

Dean

Post script .... the following day after the Doles Family had recieved John's final decoration... Logan John's son took it to school and was overheard saying "told you my dad was a bad ass".:rolleyes: