Pentagon Releases Names of 5 Slain Troops

The Pentagon on Monday released three names of U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq in December, raising the month’s death toll to 72.

It also released the identities of the first U.S. troops to die in Iraq in 2005.

Army Spc. Craig L. Nelson, 21, of Bossier City, La., died Wednesday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., of wounds sustained in a Dec. 16 bombing in Baghdad. Nelson was assigned to the Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 156th Armor Regiment.

Sgt. Damien T. Ficek, 26, of Pullman, Wash., was killed Thursday in Baghdad when his patrol was attacked by gunmen. Ficek was assigned to the Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jason E. Smith, 21, of Phoenix was killed in unspecified hostile action Friday. The Marines do not provide information about the circumstances of death. Smith died in Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.

On New Year’s Day, Army Spc. Jeff LeBrun, 21, of Buffalo, N.Y., died in Baghdad when a roadside bomb hit his vehicle. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 10th Mountain Division.

Marine Lance Cpl. Brian P. Parrello, 19, of West Milford, N.J., also died Saturday in Al Anbar province. He was assigned to Small Craft Company, Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C.