Tommy Ratzlaff

Tommy Ratzlaff on the left.


We had rain! It is a nice 68 degrees and I think I hear distant thunder. We may have a high of 92 today. This weather is more to my liking.

I saw I had several visits from Virginia beach on my traffic report. They were looking at the Tom Ratzlaff post and I suppose since it came from a google search it was some one from that navy base and maybe his family.

I talked to my son yesterday and he said the family was going to bury him at Arlington because that was what he would want. The ky3 did a piece on Raffiaty last night and had his photo.
Some of you know I have very negative feeling about the war but I refrained from such comments on my post about Ratiffity in deference to his mother , Nancy who has always been a good friend to my son and I certainly wouldn't want to hurt her by word or deed after I saw the Virginia beach searches I thought it might have been his sons searching for information about their father.
Here is the piece on Ky3 news site...
GREEN FOREST, Ark. -- Family members say U.S. Navy SEAL Tommy Ratzlaff of Green Forest was killed in action in the helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Saturday. That crash killed 38 people, 30 of whom were Americans and 22 of whom were Navy SEALs.

Relatives say it was Ratzlaff's childhood dream to serve his country. Ratzlaff joined the Navy in 1995 out of high school. A year later he was in SEAL training.

This is the article in the Green Forest paper....
Navy Master Chief Tommy Ratzlaff was serving in Afghanistan when his helicopter was shot down by insurgent fire, killing him and 30 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy SEALs unit that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, along with seven Afghan commandos. It was the deadliest single incident for American forces in the decade-long war. GREEN FOREST -- Flags are flying at half-staff this week as a community mourns the loss of one of its own.
Navy Master Chief Tommy Ratzlaff, a 1995 Green Forest High School graduate, was killed in a Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan last week.
The Navy SEAL was among the 38 that were on board. The group had just completed a rescue mission and was shot down by insurgent fire.
Ratzlaff, 34, joined the Navy out of high school in 1995 and went on to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a Navy Seal.
"From the time he was in elementary school he talked about being a Navy SEAL," his sister Julie Adams remembered.
He leaves behind his family here, she said, and a wife and children in Virginia Beach, Va.; Andrea (Linz) Ratzlaff, 11-year-old Barett, six-year-old Sepp, and an unborn daughter who is expected to arrive in November.
Adams released this statement on behalf of the Ratzlaff family:
"My family is grieving, not only for our loss of a son, brother, father, uncle, husband, nephew and friend -- but grieving with the other families who had loved ones give their lives for the freedom and rights enjoyed in our country," she said.
"We are proud and thankful of all the servicemen who put their own lives in danger daily to protect us.
"Tom would have grateful for the outpouring of love, support and prayers for his family, but would want the focus to remain on the cause for which he made this sacrifice -- not the sacrifice itself.
"As a Navy SEAL team member, my brother was trained to keep a low profile and just do his job.
"We are proud of him, the life he lived, the accomplishments he had, and the ideals he stood for.
"He did what he loved and died defending those who loved him."
He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Gov. Mike Beebe has said that both U.S. and Arkansas flags will be lowered to honor him on that day.
A memorial service will follow in Green Forest at a later date.
Memorial donations can be made to the Ratzlaff Memorial Scholarship fund at First National Bank of Green Forest.

Ratzlaff's sister said Ratzlaff would appreciate the well-wishes his family has received but added, "Tommy would want the focus of his sacrifice to be on the cause, not on the sacrifice itself."

The family received news of Ratzlaff's death by the U.S. Navy on Saturday around 10:30 a.m. The schedule for services was not finalized by Sunday night.

Ratzlaff, 34, leaves behind a wife, two sons, ages 11 and 6, and a child on the way -- a baby girl due in November.