AFGHANISTAN: Two more Navy SEALs die 'taking the fight to the enemy'

September 14, 2008 | 3:57 pm

By institutional culture, the Navy SEALs don't let out much information about their combat missions.

But recent death announcements suggest the SEALs are playing a major role in the increasing battle against the resurgent Taliban and their allies in Afghanistan.

On Sept. 3, the SEALs announced the death of Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Harris, who drowned during a combat operation in Afghanistan.

And on Saturday, the SEALs announced the deaths of Senior Chief Petty Officer John Wayne Marcum (pictured right, above) and Chief Petty Officer-select Jason Richard Freiwald (pictured right, below).

Both died Friday of wounds incurred a day earlier during a firefight with "heavily armed militants."

Marcum, 34, was from Flushing, Mich.; Freiwald, 30, from Armada, Mich.

Both were decorated veterans from previous combat tours and were attached to a SEAL unit in Virginia when they deployed to Afghanistan. Each is survived by a wife and daughter.

"They died while taking the fight to the enemy, going in harm's way with the selflessness that resonated in their character and made them giants among men," said Capt. Scott Moore, commanding officer of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

— Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo credit: U.S. Navy

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