Military digest 05/27/03

Staff sergeant now a helicopter crew crief

Staff Sgt. James L. Johnson is serving as a helicopter crew chief in the Air Force Special Operations Command. Johnson, a graduate of Farmington High School, took the early enlistment option.

He is the son of Jeanne E. Johnson of Caledonia, Mo., and grandson of Jean Erlbacher Wilson of McClure, Ill., and the late John E. Wilson.

Marine's unit serves in Mosul, returning to ships

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Michael J. Ritrovato, son of Tina M. Marlow of Cape Girardeau and Robert A. Ritrovato of Ste. Genevieve, Mo., is currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom while assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C. Ritrovato is one of more than 4,000 sailors and Marines aboard the ships of the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group.

The majority of those in Ritrovato's unit have returned to the ships from Mosul, Iraq, as Operation Iraqi Freedom continues to change to humanitarian missions.

Ritrovato is a 2000 graduate of Central High School of Park Hills, Mo. and joined the Marine Corps in May 2000.

-- From staff reports