Craig Morin of Columbus, Ohio: U.S. Army, Operation Enduring Freedom

Editor’s note: This is the final profile of Marching Orders, season 1. Read previous profiles at ThisWeekNEWS.com/MarchingOrders. Craig Morin, 30, of Columbus was a U.S. Army officer in Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014, advising the Afghan National Army during Operation Enduring Freedom. Morin was bor…

Michael Pohorilla of New Albany, Ohio: Army Air Corps, World War II

Michael Pohorilla, 95, of New Albany flew 35 combat missions over German-held territory as a first lieutenant and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress navigator in World War II. He was based in Great Britain as a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps’ Eighth Air Force. The 10-man crew on his bomber ranged from …

Wally Cash of Hilliard, Ohio: U.S. Navy, World War II

Wally Cash, 93, of Hilliard is among the ever-shrinking ranks of World War II veterans in the United States. Cash spent two years and 10 months in the U.S. Navy and concluded his active service before he was 21 years old. He was a 17-year-old senior at Grandview Heights High School when he enlisted…

Edward Taylor III of Pickerington: National Guard, Gulf War

Edward Taylor III, 49, of Pickerington is an Ohio Army National Guard veteran of the 1990-91 Gulf War and served during the 2003-11 Iraq War with the Ohio Air National Guard, for which he still serves as a chief master sergeant. A Canton native, Taylor graduated from McKinley Senior High School and…

Dana Robinson-Street, Columbus, Ohio: Navy, Gulf War

Dr. Dana Robinson-Street, 50, of Columbus is a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Navy who served on the destroyer tender, USS Samuel Gompers, during the Gulf War of 1991, including the combat phase of Operation Desert Storm. She was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in 2018. Born and raised in…

Bobbie Mershon of Canal Winchester, Ohio: U.S. Army, Vietnam War

Roberta “Bobbie” Jean Mershon, 71, of Canal Winchester treated some of the most badly wounded soldiers of the Vietnam War after she arrived in the country as a 22-year-old Army nurse in 1969. Those severely injured and burned soldiers typically were 19 or 20 years old, she said. “It was just like…

Edward Mechenbier of Columbus: Air Force, Vietnam POW

Vietnam War veteran and retired U.S. Air Force Major Gen. Edward Mechenbier, 76, of Columbus was held as a prisoner of war from 1967 to 1973 in North Vietnam, where he was beaten and tortured but survived on as little as 600 to 800 calories a day. The nearly 600 Americans who survived captivity in…

Mike Schad of Grove City, Air Force, Korea, Vietnam

Mike Schad, 91, of Grove City is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served during the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The oldest of 11 children, he grew up and graduated from high school in Plainview, Minnesota, and attended the University of Minnesota for a year. Motivated by a love …

Richard and Christine Curry of Pickerington, Ohio: U.S. Army, Global War on Terrorism

Husband and wife Richard T. Curry and Christine Curry of Pickerington are U.S. Army veterans who served in Iraq and Kuwait during the War on Terror. Richard Curry grew up in Cincinnati and attended Youngstown State University, New York University and the American Military University. He earned his…

Mike Strahle of Westerville: U.S. Marines' Lima Company, Iraq War

Mike Strahle, 34, of Westerville served in the Iraq War in 2005 with the Marine Corps' Columbus-based Company L (known as Lima Company), 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, as part of Regimental Combat Team 2. Strahle was with the unit when it conducted anti-insurgency operations in Iraq's Al Anbar prov…