Charleston Post Courier -- Ron White is not sure how many military funerals he's attended the past couple of years as state organizer for the Patriot Guard Riders. Sadly, it's far too many.

But when the volunteer group rolls into North Charleston on Sunday to honor the life and service of Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Taylor, a Summerville native who was killed Sept. 21 in Iraq, the solemn occasion is likely to hit close to home for White.

"I do feel a connection with this young man," said White, whose 27-year-old son serves with the Army's Special Forces and has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Like Taylor, White's son also attended Fort Dorchester High School.

Taylor planned to join the Patriot Guard after he completed his military enlistment next year. He thought it would be a fitting way to honor other service members once he finally hung up his uniform.

Tulsa World -- Eshbaugh, who served as a flight engineer, enlisted in the Air Force in 1982, where he served for 10 years. After a six-year break, he joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard in 1998, staying until 2000. He re-enlisted in 2002 and remained with the Guard until he was deployed earlier this year. Eshbaugh also was deployed to Iraq in 2003.

Maj. Pete Barger, a Chinook pilot for the Oklahoma Guard, said he first met Eshbaugh during their original deployment to Iraq. Eshbaugh became a Chinook crew member in 2006, he said.

Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Corry A. Edwards, 38, of Kennedale, Texas;  assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment, Task Force 34, Texas Army National Guard, Grand Prairie, Texas; died Sept. 18 when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter he was in went down in the vicinity of Tallil, Iraq. Also killed were Chief Warrant Officer 2 Corry A. Edwards, Sgt. Daniel M. Eshbaugh, 1st Sgt. Julio C. Ordonez, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brady J. Rudolf, Cpl. Michael E. Thompson and 1st Lt. Robert Vallejo II.

Tulsa World -- Family members of Thompson said that he volunteered to go to Iraq because the Army needed a qualified open-door machine gunner.

"He was qualified for machine guns from his active duty in the military before this,'' said Richard Perry, Thompson's stepfather. "He volunteered to go to help out."

Thompson was a hunter and fisherman who graduated from Kingston High School in 2003. He was not married but he had a fiancee, Perry said.

"Everyone is taking it pretty hard,'' Perry said. "We would like to know what happened so that there can be closure."

Victoria Advocate -- One of the seven Army soldiers who died Sept. 18 when their helicopter went down near Tallil, Iraq, has relatives in Edna.

Capt. Robert Vallejo II, 28, from Richland Hills, near Fort Worth, was last in Edna in June, where he served as a pallbearer in his grandfather’s funeral. His grandfather was Robert Vallejo, said his aunt Sara Ramirez of Edna.

Tulsa World -- Dustin Rudolf, the brother of Rudolf, said his brother was a dedicated father, husband and soldier who comes from a long line of servicemen in the Rudolf family.

"Brady was the greatest person I know," said Rudolf, who lives in Durant and who serves in the Army reserves. "He was a great father, a great husband and just an all-around great human being. The sacrifice he gave for our freedom and what we live for here in America is an awesome thing and he knew it and he lived it."

WOAI -- One of the soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq last week was from San Antonio.

The CH-47 Chinook was en route to Balad Air Base after midnight on September 18th and was about 60 miles west of Basra at the time of the crash.

Seven national guardsman were killed in the crash. Four of those were from Texas, including 1st Sgt. Julio Ordonez of San Antonio. The other three were from Oklahoma.

First Sgt. Ordonez was posthumously promoted to Sergeant Major and is survived by his wife Leticia, sons Julio and Jacob, and daughters Joyce and Judith.

Sgt. Major Ordonez was born in Honduras and joined the military on 29 Apr, 1982. Before joining the Texas Army National Guard he served with HHC, 6-112th in Arkansas as a helicopter engineer. His awards include: Army Achievement Medal, national Defense Service Medal, and Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development ribbon.

Fort Worth Star Telegram -- The deaths of four Texas Army National Guard soldiers in what appeared to be a helicopter accident last week marked the deadliest day in years for the state’s citizen-soldiers.

Among those killed was a sergeant from Springtown, a soldier from Kennedale and a first sergeant from San Antonio. Three National Guardsmen from Oklahoma also died in the accident, which occurred at midnight Thursday as their CH-47 Chinook flew from Kuwait into Iraq.

Military authorities said there was no indication of enemy fire.

The Defense Department had still not released the names of the seven men by Saturday evening, but word was leaking out into communities anyway.

The Olympian -- FORT LEWIS - The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Fort Lewis soldier who suffered fatal injuries when his military vehicle was involved in a vehicle incident.

Leonard J. Gulczynski, I, 19, of Carol Stream, Ill., died Sept. 17 in Iraq. The company deployed to Iraq in March, a base news release says.

According to unit records, Gulczynski initially entered military service on June 7, 2007.

After completing advanced individual training in his military occupational specialty of 21E: heavy construction equipment operator at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he reported to Fort Lewis Nov. 21, 2007.

He was assigned to 610th Engineer Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade.

WSMV -- NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Nashville Tennessee Valley Authority worker is the latest casualty in the war in Iraq.

Energy Efficiency and Demand Response employee Darrick Wright, 37, died Wednesday in Baghdad while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom for the U.S. Army Reserve. He is TVA's first loss in this war.

Wright was a captain in the Engineering Brigade. He joined TVA in October 2000 as an electrical engineer in Customer Service and Marketing. He later worked in Pricing and Contracts before his most recent position as an analyst in Customer Resources' Market and Program Analysis department in Nashville in April 2007.

Wright is survived by his wife, Katina, whom government officials told her husband died of a massive heart attack. She is expecting their first child, whom she and her husband had already named Trevor, in November.