Military deaths

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Afghanistan:

Rocco M. Barnes, 50, of Los Angeles; major, Army National Guard. Barnes was killed June 4 in a vehicle rollover in Afghanistan. He was a member of the California Army National Guard’s Tactical Command Post, 40th Infantry Division and assigned as an individual augmentee to the 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Ricky L. Richardson Jr., 33, of Franklin, Mo.; chief warrant officer 2, Marine Corps. Richardson was killed Wednesday while reportedly trying to dismantle a bomb in western Afghanistan’s Farah province, on the Iranian border. He was assigned to the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan.

Eduardo S. Silva, 25, of Greenfield, Calif.; specialist, Army. Silva died of noncombat-related injuries Tuesday at Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul. He was assigned to the 563rd Aviation Support Battalion, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Ft. Campbell, Ky.

Joshua R. Whittle, 20, of Downey; lance corporal, Marine Corps. Whittle was killed in combat June 6 in southwestern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, on the Pakistani border. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Sources: Department of Defense and Associated Press