Sad Relief

The families of Sgt. Alex Jimenez and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty received that final knock on the door on Thursday when they were notified by the military that the bodies of these young men and some of their personal effects were identified after they went missing in May 2007.

The Washington Post reports:

Pvt Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., and Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., were kidnapped in May 2007 in the volatile area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death."

"Every day that he's been missing has been a day of `what could have been' ... but after hearing the news ... I'm still in shock," Dibler (Fouty's stepfather) said Thursday, after military officials came to his Oxford home and told him his stepson's body was one of two discovered in the Iraqi village of Jurf as Sakhr.

Jimenez's father, Ramon "Andy" Jimenez, said he also received a visit Thursday from military officials who told him that his son's body and some of his son's personal effects had been discovered in Iraq. Speaking through a translator, he said the news "shattered all hope" the
family had to "see Alex walk home on his own."

From the Associated Press


SPC Ahmed K. Altaie (Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie) remains as the remaining US soldier declared as Missing- Captured. He has been missing since October 23, 2006. We cannot forget Spc Altaie and we must not leave him behind.

Sgt. Alex Jimenez and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, welcome home. May you rest in peace and may your families find comfort that you are finally home.