Dayton Daily News
November 18, 2008
Spc. Jon Stiles, a no-nonsense outdoors enthusiast with Miami Valley ties who refused medical leave after being injured in a bombing in October was killed Thursday, Nov. 13, in another bombing in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the Defense Department said.
Lynn Stiles, the soldier's father who lives in Butler Twp., said his son lived in the Miami Valley from 2004-06 after he was discharged from the Marines and Army.
He moved to his childhood home in Colorado to join the National Guard. Jon Stiles, of Highlands Ranch, was 38.
"He had a great, great sense of honor," Lynn Stiles said Monday, Nov. 17.
Jon Stiles was awarded the Bronze Star for the October incident that left him with vocal chord and lung damage. A transport vehicle traveling in front of Stiles' vehicle was bombed. He crawled under it to free two soldiers under heavy fire, Lynn Stiles said.
On Nov. 13, an "improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle" and caused the injuries that led to his death, according to the Defense Department.
After growing up in Colorado, Stiles enlisted in and spent nearly 13 years in the Marines after high school. He spent more than two years in the Army before moving to the Miami Valley to help with his father's printing equipment business, Miyakoshi America.
"On the day he left (the Army), he said, 'I should have stayed,' " Lynn Stiles said.
Jon Stiles joined a National Guard unit in Colorado slated for deployment to Iraq. When those plans were postponed, he moved to a unit set for deployment to Afghanistan.
Stiles was assigned to the 927th Engineer Company (Sapper), 769th Engineer Battalion, Louisiana Army National Guard in Baton Rouge. His specialty, Lynn Stiles said, was "hitting very small targets from very far away."
Stiles' interests leaned toward outdoor life. One famous family photo shows him fishing in temperatures 20 degrees below zero. "He would go fishing in a blizzard," Lynn Stiles said.
Today, Nov. 18, would have been Stiles' eighth wedding anniversary, his father said.
Dayton Daily News
News Death Notice
STILES, Spc. Jon of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, died November 13, 2008 after being wounded by a roadside bomb in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Jon, a decorated war hero, was a member of the Colorado Army National Guard State Honor Guard. He was a Soldier in the 3rd Battalion, 157th Field Artillery, but was augmenting the 927th Engineer Company, Louisiana Army National Guard. He was mobilized for Afghanistan in March 2008.
Jon was 38 yrs. old, born July 6, 1970, in Bartlesville, OK. Jon loved serving in the armed forces as evidenced by his service in the Marine Corp., the Army, and in the National Guard. Jon was a proud patriot who enthusiastically re-enlisted to serve his country.
Jon is survived by his wife, Launa Stiles. He is also survived by his father Lynn Stiles with wife Cecilia and brother Kenneth of Dayton, Ohio. His sister, Sr. Airman Natalie Stiles at Lackland AFB San Antonio; Texas, his brother Charles Lynn Stiles, with his wife Laura and their children Nathan and Jessica of Grandview, MO., his mother Linda Barnett and her husband Larry, of Springfield, MO; and his grandparents, Maxine and Kenneth Stiles in Lockwood, MO. Jon also leaves a large extended family of cousins and friends.
Jon enjoyed playing golf and was an avid fly fisherman. Funeral arrangements have not been finalized, but memorial services will be held at Mountainview Community Christian Church, in Highlands Ranch, CO. Date and time will be posted on the churchs web site: http://www.mountainviewfamily.org/.
Jon will be laid to rest at Ft. Logan National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the Stiles family suggests donations to the Colorado National Guard Foundation, 6848 S. Revere Parkway, Centennial, CO 80112 or to a charity of your choice.
These pictures were on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lbmarelli/3049865617/ of the arrival of Jon's body and his funeral.
Please click on this link or copy and paste it to go the blog where Jon's arrival home and his funeral were captured in moving words and pictures: http://elbmd.blogspot.com/2008/11/honoring-sgt-jon-stiles-at-fort-logan.html
There is also a slideshow of pictures taken at the funeral and one of Jon in happier times at his address:
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