Pentagon releases names of 13 service members killed in Kabul

WASHINGTON, DC — The Department of Defense on Saturday released the names of all 13 U.S. service members who were killed in an attack outside Kabul’s airport on Thursday, as the U.S. and other Western countries raced to evacuate their citizens and allies out of Afghanistan.

Here’s what we know about some of those who gave their lives in service to their country.

RYLEE McCOLLUM

Roice McCollum, the older sister of US Marine Rylee McCollum, told CNN her brother, who was 20 years old, was “an amazing man with a passion for the Marines.”

He was a lance corporal, she added.

“He was a son, a brother, a husband and a father with a baby due in just 3 weeks,” she told CNN in a statement, adding that Rylee had wanted to be a Marine his whole life, so much so that even as a toddler he carried around a toy rifle in his diapers and cowboy boots.

Roice said that her brother, a native of Wyoming, was on his first deployment and had been determined to be infantry. He was sent to Afghanistan when the evacuation began and had been manning the check point when the suicide bomb went off, she said.

“Rylee wanted to be a history teacher and a wrestling coach when he finished serving his country,” she said. “Rylee will always be a hero, not just for the ultimate sacrifice he made for our country but for the way he impacted every life around him for the better. Making us stronger, kinder, teaching us to love deeper. We love you Rylee.”

Rylee, she remembered, was tough but a kind and loving person that “made an impact on everyone he met.”

DEAGAN WILLIAM-TYELER PAGE

Cpl. Daegan Page was 23 years old, his family said in a statement provided to CNN.

“Daegan will always be remembered for his tough outer shell and giant heart,” the family statement said. “Our hearts are broken, but we are thankful for the friends and family who are surrounding us during this time.”

They said he planned to possibly become a lineman once his Marine enlistment was finished.

Page was raised partly in Iowa and near Omaha, Nebraska, and served at Camp Pendleton in California. He had four siblings, the statement added.

“He loved hunting and spending time outdoors with his dad, as well as being out on the water,” the family said. “He was also an animal lover with a soft spot in his heart for dogs.”

Page joined the US Marine Corps after graduating from Millard South High School, the statement added.

He was a longtime Boy Scout and “he enjoyed playing hockey for Omaha Westside in the Omaha Hockey Club and was a diehard Chicago Blackhawks fan.”

MAXTON SOVIAK

US Navy corpsman Maxton Soviak “was most proud to be a Navy corpsman and a ‘devil doc’ for the Marines,” his parents, Kip and Rachel Soviak, told CNN in a statement.

“His final words to (Rachel) over FaceTime, when he was telling her goodbye was after she told him to be safe and he said ‘Don’t worry mom, my guys got me they won’t let anything happen to me.’ Today she realized that they all just went together,” the statement said.

They described Maxton as an “awesome young man” who was “well liked in the community as evidenced by the outpouring of condolences from teachers, coaches, employers, family, and friends.”

“Maxton was always proud of being part of a state champion wrestling team and state playoff final four football team two years in a row,” the statement added.

Maxton had 12 brothers and sisters.

NICOLE GEE

A week before she was killed, Sgt. Nicole Gee cradled a baby in her arms at the Kabul airport. She posted the photo on Instagram and wrote, “I love my job.”

Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California, was a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Sgt. Mallory Harrison, who lived with Gee for three years and called her a “sister forever” and best friend, wrote about the magnitude of her loss.

“I can’t quite describe the feeling I get when I force myself to come back to reality & think about how I’m never going to see her again,” Harrison wrote on Facebook. “How her last breath was taken doing what she loved — helping people. … Then there was an explosion. And just like that, she’s gone.”

Gee’s Instagram page shows another photo of her in fatigues, holding a rifle next to a line of people walking into the belly of a large transport plane. She wrote: “escorting evacuees onto the bird.”

The social media account that includes many selfies after working out at the gym lists her location as California, North Carolina and “somewhere overseas.”

Photos show her on a camel in Saudi Arabia, in a bikini on a Greek isle and holding a beer in Spain. One from this month in Kuwait shows her beaming with her meritorious promotion to sergeant.

Harrison said her generation of Marines hears war stories from veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, but they seem distant amid boring deployments until “the peaceful float you were on turns into … your friends never coming home.”

Gee’s car was still parked in a lot at Camp Lejeune and Harrison mused about all the Marines who walked past it while she was overseas.

“Some of them knew her. Some of them didn’t.” she said. “They all walked past it. The war stories, the losses, the flag-draped coffins, the KIA bracelets & the heartbreak. It’s not so distant anymore.”

KAREEM MAE’LEE GRANT NIKOUI

Lance Corporal Kareem Mae’Lee Grant Nikoui, of Norco, California, sent videos to his family hours before he died, showing himself interacting with children in Afghanistan. In one clip, he asked a young boy to say hello.

“Want to take a video together buddy?” Nikoui said, leaning in to take a video of himself with the boy. “All right, we’re heroes now, man.”

Family friend Paul Arreola said the videos show “the heart of this young man, the love he has.”

“The family is just heartbroken,” he said. Arreola described Nikoui as an “amazing young man” full of promise who always wanted to be a Marine and set out to achieve his goal. He is survived by his parents and three siblings.

“He loved this country and everything we stand for. It’s just so hard to know that we’ve lost him,” he said, crying.

Nikoui was also in the JROTC, and the Norco High School Air Force JROTC posted on Facebook that he was “one of our best Air Force JROTC cadets” and that “Kareem was set on being a Marine & always wanted to serve his country.”

JARED SCHMITZ

Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz grew up in the St. Louis area and was among a group of Marines sent back to Afghanistan to assist with evacuation efforts, his father, Mark Schmitz, told KMOX Radio.

“This was something he always wanted to do, and I never seen a young man train as hard as he did to be the best soldier he could be,” Mark Schmitz said of his son. “His life meant so much more. I’m so incredibly devastated that I won’t be able to see the man that he was very quickly growing into becoming.”

TAYLOR HOOVER

Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, of Utah, had been in the Marines for 11 years and was remembered as a hero who died serving others, his father, Darin Hoover, said.

“He is a hero. He gave his life protecting those that can’t protect themselves, doing what he loved serving his country,” said Darin Hoover, who lives in a Salt Lake City suburb.

He said he had heard from Marines who said they were grateful they had his son as their sergeant.

“They look back on him and say that they’ve learned so much from him,” Hoover said. “One heck of a leader.”

Hoover said his son was also a best friend to his two sisters and loved all his extended family. He had a girlfriend in California and was the kind of guy who “lit up a room” when he came in, his father said.

Nate Thompson of Murray, Utah, first met Hoover when they were 10 years old in Little League football. They stayed friends through high school, where Hoover played lineman. He was undersized for the position, but his heart and hard work more than made up for what he lacked in statute, Thompson said. As a friend, he was selfless and kind.

“If we had trouble with grades, trouble with family or trouble on the field, we always called Taylor. He’s always level-headed, even if he’s struggling himself,” he said.

RYAN KNAUSS

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss was remembered as a motivated man who loved his country and was looking forward to coming back to the U.S. and eventually moving to Washington, D.C., family members told WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Knauss’ grandfather, Wayne Knauss, told the television station that his grandson attended Gibbs High School and grew up in a Christian home.

“A motivated young man who loved his country,” Wayne Knauss said. “He was a believer, so we will see him again in God’s heaven.”

Stepmother Linnae Knauss said Ryan planned to move to Washington after he returned to the U.S.

“He was a super-smart hilarious young man,” she said.

HUNTER LOPEZ

Hunter Lopez, whose parents work at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in Southern California, was a sheriff’s Explorer for three years before joining the Marine Corps in September 2017, Sheriff Chad Bianco said.

Bianco said Lopez planned to follow in his parents’ footsteps and become a Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy after his deployment.

DAVID LEE ESPINOZA

Lance Corporal David Lee Espinoza, a Marine from Laredo, Texas, joined the military after high school, and was being remembered as a hero by his mother.

“He was just brave enough to go do what he wanted and to help out people. That’s who he was, he was just perfect,” his mother, Elizabeth Holguin. told the Laredo Morning Times.

In a statement, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said Espinoza “embodied the values of America: grit, dedication, service, and valor. When he joined the military after high school, he did so with the intention of protecting our nation and demonstrating his selfless acts of service.”

Cuellar concluded, “The brave never die. Mr. Espinoza is a hero.”

The other victims include:

• – Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusett
• – Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana
• – Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Californi

Sanchez and Merola were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California.

Rosariopichardo was assigned to 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Naval Support Activity Bahrain.