BRISTOW - The Navy announced the death Friday of a Norfolk-based sailor lost at sea in February.

Engineman First Class Theophilus Kwaku Ansong fell into the Gulf of Aden on February 4, along with two fellow sailors from USS San Antonio.

Their raft flipped over as they were being lowered to the water. The sailors were being transferred to another ship.

Los Angeles Times -- Reporting from Philadelphia -- If you didn't know John Jones, you'd assume he was just another overworked securities trader, hustling across the sidewalk to wolf down a quick lunch in this city's financial district.

Photo: John Jones, who lost both legs in Iraq, is enrolled in a six-month brokerage course at Drexel Hamilton in Philadelphia. “The Marine Corps is just a big business with toys. I operated and managed 65 people,” he said. “If you can do that, there’s nothing you can’t do in a corporation.” A Philadelphia firm prepares wounded veterans to become securities brokers. After all, anyone who's excelled in combat can surely brave the high-pressure world of finance -- even in these tough times.

But when Jones sits down, his recent past is on full display. Titanium shins poke out from the cuffs of his dress slacks, revealing prosthetic legs. Jones was a Marine staff sergeant in Iraq in 2005 when a land mine blew off both legs below the knees.

ODESSA - Losing a family member in the military is heartbreaking, but one Odessa family is learning to move forward after being honored with a special gift in rememberance of their son.

Sgt. Kristopher Higdon served in the army for almost 8 years. He was known for his passion of fighting for his country. "Smiling, respectful, sincere about what he was doing. He loved the Army he was always about Go-Army!" Kristopher's Mother Ronda Higdon, said.

However, in May of 2007 that all changed. Sgt. Higdon was killed on duty in Iraq, and on Saturday, the family he left behind was given a special potrait to remember him by. 

WAILUKU, Maui — Maui honored its latest "fallen warriors" yesterday by adding the names of four soldiers killed in Iraq to a roll of the county's war dead.

Photo: Kelly Bolor and her son, Kyle, hold a picture of her husband, Sgt 1st Class Kelly Bolor, who died in 2003 after two Black Hawk helicopters collided over Mosul, Iraq.

Sgt. 1st Class Kelly Bolor, Spc. Jay Cajimat, Pvt. Eugene Kanakaole and Spc. Christopher Sweet joined the county's 288 other service members killed during wartime whose names are engraved on a series of granite panels outside War Memorial Gym.

Family members who attended the unveiling ceremony were clearly touched by the tribute and still struggling with a deep sense of loss and grief.

Yankton Daily Press -Sarah Abdalkreem left her native Iraq as the target of insurgents. Now, she is returning to that nation as a United States soldier.

Spc. Abdalkreem saw her brother killed and her father kidnapped — never to be seen again — from their Iraq home. She and the rest of her family barely escaped with their lives, relying on others to get them out of the country.

The family was targeted because Abdalkreem’s mother, Mayasa Abass, translated for U.S. and coalition forces. Maj. Lyle LaCroix of Yankton, who worked with Abass, pressed for her family’s safe departure from the country under a special immigration program for Iraqi interpreters. LaCroix then welcomed the family into his home while they resettled in Yankton.

Salem-News.com  — Staff Sgt. Aaron Johnson, from Company A, 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, was awarded a Purple Heart Medal during a ceremony at the Medford Armory, March 6th, for injuries he sustained four years ago while deployed to Iraq.

Johnson received facial wounds while on patrol in northern Baghdad, on May 20th, 2004, with 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment, when his vehicle struck an Improvised Explosive Device as he returned to Camp Victory.

WEST POINT — A 2007 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point died in Iraq on Saturday, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

First Lt. Daniel B. Hyde, 24, of Modesto, Calif., was mortally wounded when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle in Tikrit.

According to the defense department, Hyde was a platoon leader assigned to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team in the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. He was deployed in October.

Miami Herald.com - A 22-year-old U.S. Army soldier from Miami was killed in Iraq by mortar fire on March 3, according to the Department of Defense.

Pfc. Jessica Y. Sarandrea was mortally wounded when insurgent forces attacked her forward operating base with mortar fire in Mosul.

An official statement from the U.S. government stated that Sarandrea was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Kampala, Uganda - Under a relentless equatorial sun and the gaze of her Zimbabwean instructor, Juliet Kituye quickly reassembles her AK-47. Next to her, a young man in a ripped red T-shirt discharges imaginary rounds at an invisible target.

On a disused soccer pitch in the suburbs of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, 300 hopefuls are being put through rudimentary firearms training. Many of the recruits are raw and their drills occasionally lurch towards slapstick. One trainee lets the magazine slip out of his automatic rifle and onto the red earth, someone else about turns right instead of left. All of them share the same dream, however: going to Iraq.