Cleaver, John J.
Army Staff sergeant

John J. Cleaver, age 36, from Joplin, Missouri

Parents: Ronald and Teresa Cleaver
Children: Collin and Aidan

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Galena High, Missouri; Henderson State University; Crowder College, Missouri
Military history: 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Enlisted in Navy 1995, enlisted in Army June 2006.

Date of death: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Death details: Died with another soldier in Zabul Province, Afghanistan of wounds sustained when a suicide car-bomber attacked their unit.

This note from Teresa Cleaver on Jan. 3, 2022: In 2019, a portion of his ashes were launched from Kennedy Space Center attached to a satellite aboard a Falcon Heavy Rocket. I was there to watch! It was magnificent! I have never been so elated!
The satellite orbits the Earth 15-17 times a day for approx 25 years, so that many sunrises & sunsets each day. The just in case extra ashes were placed in the Banana River in Cape Canaveral. We had taken John there when he was 12 for a tour, so this was a return for us. The remainder of his ashes will be included at the foot of my coffin when I die. I am almost 70. We will be interred in a mausoleum at Ozark Memorial Cemetery in Joplin, MO, which was actually John’s home town. His father, Ron, is already there.

Source: Department of Defense, Tacoma News Tribune, Military Times