Soldier added to (war) casualty list two years after suicide

[rainbow4321]

Interesting...wonder how high the death count will be if they count all suicides (past, present, future) as war casualties?



http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8AJOGOO3.html


A U.S. soldier who killed himself after he was evacuated from Kuwait and hospitalized with post-traumatic stress disorder two years ago has been added to the Defense Department's list of war casualties, the department said Wednesday.

Army Master Sgt. James C. Coons, 35, of Conroe, north of Houston, was found dead July 4, 2003, in his room at an outpatient facility at Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was receiving psychiatric treatment, the Washington Post reported last week. Coons had hanged himself.

At the time of Coons' death, Defense Department policy prevented counting him as a war casualty because he committed suicide outside of a combat zone. But his family asked that he be considered a war casualty, and a military casualty board ruled in December that he be counted as such.


Jack Herschfield, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Michael T. McCaul, confirmed Wednesday that the congressman is helping the Coons family in their efforts to change the date of James Coons' death. While he was found dead on Independence Day, an independent coroner who reviewed his autopsy at The Post's request said results indicated Coons died before the holiday.