Military deaths

December 28, 2008

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Iraq or who died at a military hospital:

Jonathan W. Dean, 25, of Henagar, Ala.; staff sergeant, Army. Dean died Dec. 20 in Baiji, Iraq, of injuries suffered in a noncombat-related incident in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 561st Military Police Company, 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Ft. Campbell, Ky.

Coleman W. Hinkefent, 19, of Coweta, Okla.; private first class, Army. Hinkefent died Dec. 20 at a military hospital in Hamburg, Germany, of liver failure after a short battle with acute leukemia. He had been serving in Iraq and was flown to Germany after becoming sick earlier this month. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division in Baumholder, Germany.

Stephen M. Okray, 21, of St. Clair Shores, Mich.; specialist, Army. Okray was among three soldiers who drowned Wednesday when part of a road collapsed and their Humvee rolled into a canal in Baghdad. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Ft. Carson, Colo.

John P. Pryor, 42, of Moorestown, N.J.; major, Army Reserve. A trauma surgeon, Pryor was killed Thursday when a mortar round exploded near his living quarters in Mosul, Iraq, north of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 1st Medical Detachment, Forward Surgical Team at Ft. Totten, N.Y.

Thomas Reilly Jr., 19, of London, Ky.; lance corporal, Marine Corps. Reilly was killed Dec. 21 in a surprise attack on his unit in Iraq's Anbar province, west of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Christopher G. Smith, 28, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; staff sergeant, Army. Smith was among three soldiers who drowned Wednesday when part of a road collapsed and their Humvee rolled into a canal in Baghdad. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Ft. Carson, Colo.

Stephen G. Zapasnik, 19, of Broken Arrow, Okla.; specialist, Army. Zapasnik was among three soldiers who drowned Wednesday when part of a road collapsed and their Humvee rolled into a canal in Baghdad. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Ft. Carson, Colo.

Sources: Department of Defense and the Associated Press






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