Friday, May 04, 2007 4:07 AM - MNF- Iraq is reporting the death of a Task Force Marne soldier south of Baghdad when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb on Friday, May 4th. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

Friday, May 04, 2007 12:13 PM - MNF-
	(1) CENTCOM is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bomb attack in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday, May 3rd. Six other soldiers were wounded in the incident.
	(2) CENTCOM is also reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bomb attack in a western neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday, May 3rd. Three other soldiers were wounded in the attack.
	(3) Lastly, CENTCOM is reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Force - West soldiers from enemy action in Al Anbar Province on Thursday, May 3rd.

Friday, May 04, 2007 1:16 PM -
Colby J. Umbrell, 26, Of Doylestown, Pennsylvania	(1) On May 4th, CENTCOM issued a press release stating that a Task Force Marne soldier had died "today" in a roadside bomg attack south of Baghdad. However, this is likely a case where the release was written while "today" was still May 3rd ... but not published until the 4th. The DoD has identified this soldier as 1st Lieutenant Colby J. Umbrell, 26, Of Doylestown, Pennsylvania ... and have confirmed that he died on Thursday, the 3rd, in a roadside bomb attack. His place of death was given as Musayyib in Babil Province south of Baghdad. The Wheeling (West Virginia) Intelligencer describes Umbrell as the oldest of four children ... and a natural born leader. He had dreamed of joining the military since attending a football camp at West Point during high school. But he elected to earn a degree in political science at John Hopkins University in 2004. He enlisted in the army some time after graduation and was on his first deployment to Iraq. Umbrell had just been home on leave at the end of March.
Johnathan E. Kirk, 25, of Belhaven, North Carolina	(2) The DoD has announced a new death, one not previously reported by CENTCOM. Marine Lance Corporal Johnathan E. Kirk, 25, of Belhaven, North Carolina, had been wounded by enemy action in Al Anbar Province on April 23rd. He died of those wounds on Tuesday, May 1st, although the DoD did not say where. However, an article appeared in the Washington (North Carolina) Daily News that described how his step-brother, Ben Hopkins, successfully competed in a high school championship event after learning the night before that Kirk had been injured. Hopkins stated that his step-brother had been critically wounded in a roadside bomb blast and was at that point in a hospital in Germany. We do not know if he was still there when he died. Kirk had been with the Marines for about a year and a half ... and had served in Iraq for about a month.

Sunday, May 06, 2007 1:17 PM - MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Task Force Lightning soldier on Sunday, May 6th, of a non-hostile, unspecified cause. The soldier's place of death was not given.

Sunday, May 6, 2007 3:12 PM - The British Ministry of Defense has announced the death of one of their troops on Sunday, May 6th. The soldier, a member of the Royal Logistics Corps, was very seriously injured by a roadside bomb in the vicinity of Basra on May 3rd. He was flown back to the United Kingdom where, despite extensive treatment, the soldier succumbed to his injuries.

Monday, May 07, 2007 8:26 AM - CENTCOM is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a small arms fire attack in western Baghdad on Sunday, May 6th. This will make the 11th coalition death for the 6th.

Monday, May 07, 2007 3:22 PM -
	(1) The DoD has confirmed the death of Army Private 1st Class Jerome J. Potter, 24, of Tacoma, Washington, in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, May 3rd.
	(2) The Associated Press is reporting that officials at Fort Lewis, WA, have confirmed that all six soldiers who died in a roadside bomb attack in Diyala Province on Sunday, May 6th, were assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis. The names of the dead have not yet been officially released, but El Paso (Texas) station KVIA-TV has identified one of them as Specialist Anthony Bradshaw, 21, of El Paso. On March 16, 2007, the Associated Press published a harrowing account of the 3rd Stryker Brigade's first foray into Diyala Province in the vicinity of Ba'qubah. One 21-year-old Specialist Anthony Bradshaw from "San Antonio" is quoted in the article, commenting on the casualties they were taking ... likely the same soldier who would perish himself less than two months later. Bradshaw has a twin brother and an older brother currently serving with the Army.

Monday, May 07, 2007 4:29 PM -
	(1) In a press release dated May 6th, CENTCOM had reported on the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier from a roadside bomb attack in western Baghdad on May 4th, adding also that 4 soldiers had been wounded in the attack. That was the only death reported for Friday, May 4th. Today, the DoD has announced the names of two soldiers who died as a result of that blast:
		Staff Sergeant Christopher N. Hamlin, 24, of London, Kentucky
		Private 1st Class Larry I. Guyton, 22, of Brenham, Texas
		Hamlin died at the scene. Guyton died the next day, May 5th, at a medical facility in Balad and has thus been added to our database as a new death. Both were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment ... a unit known to be operating in western Baghdad. In fact, that very unit lost a man on May 3rd in western Baghdad, Spc. Andrew Weiss.
	(2) The DoD has also released the identity of the Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier who died in a small arms fire attack in western Baghdad on Sunday, May 6th: Staff Sergeant Christopher S. Kiernan, 37, of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Kiernan is from the same unit, the 1st Battalion of the 5th Cavalry, that Hamlin, Guyton and Weiss belonged to, marking the fourth death from that unit in as many days.
	(3) Lastly, the DoD has identified the two Marines who died from enemy action in Al Anbar Province on Saturday, May 5th:
		Master Sergeant Kenneth N. Mack, 42, of Fort Worth, Texas
		Corporal Charles O. Palmer II, 36, of Manteca, California
		Master Sergeant Mack was featured in an article that appeared in the Des Moines (Iowa) Register on September 30th, 2005, describing a night when he commanded a 50-vehicle convoy over the perilous 45 miles that separate Fallujah from Ramadi. It is not known at this time if Mack and Palmer died in the same incident. But an article in California's Tri-Valley Herald is saying that Palmer died acting as a gunner in the top turret of a vehicle that hit an improvised explosive device near the town of Khalidiyah, about half way between Fallujah and Ramadi.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007 12:29 PM - The Associated Press is reporting the deaths of two Task Force Marne soldiers in a roadside bombing southeast of Baghdad on Tuesday, May 8th.

Thursday, May 10, 2007 7:35 PM - UPDATE
Walter K. O'Haire, 20, of Lynn, Massachusetts	The DoD has identified the Marine who died in enemy action in Al Anbar Province on Wednesday, May 9th: Lance Corporal Walter K. O'Haire, 20, of Lynn, Massachusetts.

Friday, May 11, 2007 5:40 PM - UPDATE -
Jason Walter Vaughn, 29, of Iuka, Mississippi	The DoD has identified the Multi-National Division - North soldier who died in an "explosion" in Diyala Province on Thursday, May 10th: Sergeant Jason W. Vaughn, 29, of Iuka, Mississippi. He was killed in a roadside bomb blast in the city of Ba'qubah. Vaughn is from the same unit ... the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, that lost six soldiers on May 6th, also in a roadside bombing.

Friday, May 11, 2007 6:15 PM - UPDATE - The DoD has identified the Multi-National Corps - Iraq soldier who was killed by gunfire in Diwaniyah, Qadisiyah Province, on Thursday, May 10th: Private 1st Class Roy L. Jones III, 21, of Houston, Texas. Jones was a military policeman from a Fort Carson, CO, based unit.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 8:24 AM - UPDATE - The blog the Washington Note is reporting that 1st Lieutenant Andrew J. Bacevich Jr., 27, who died in Balad, according to the DoD, from wounds he received in an IED attack on Sunday, May 13th, was the son of noted Boston University Professor Andrew J. Bacevich Sr., who for years has challenged the legitimacy of the Iraq war in "reserved, serious" terms. In fact, he is the author of the book The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War. According to a story from Boston's WBUR, Bacevich Jr. himself graduated from Boston University with a major in Communications in 2003. His captain e-mailed Bacevich Sr. to tell him that his son died on a main highway south of Samarra. "His unit had orders to look out for white sedans, and one came down the road. The soldiers stopped the car, and Bacevich was killed instantly when one of the passengers detonated himself." Bacevich Sr. is a West Point graduate who once taught there, as well, according to an article in the Boston Globe. One of Bacevich Jr.'s three sisters explained that her brother was a born leader who believed, as his father did, in service to his country regardless of what particular war is being fought at the time.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:02 PM - The DoD has released the identity of the Marine who died from enemy action in Al Anbar Province on Monday, May 14th: Lance Corporal Jeffrey D. Walker, 21, of Macon, Georgia.

Thursday, May 17, 2007 1:15 PM - INCOMINGS - MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of three Multi-National Division - Center soldiers in a roadside bomb blast south of Baghdad on Thursday, May 17th. One other soldier was wounded in the attack.

Monday, May 14th: Thursday, May 17, 2007 2:56 PM - UPDATES -
	The DoD has identified the two Task Force Marne soldiers who died in a small arms fire (and an IED as it turns out) attack southeast of Baghdad in the vicinity of Salman Pak on:
		Sergeant Allen James Dunckley, 25, of Yardley, Pennsylvania
		Sergeant Christopher Neil Gonzalez, 25, of Winslow, Arizona
	There is nothing in the media yet on Dunckley. However, a blog entry on the Internet states that he leaves behind a wife and two young children, ages 2 and 3.
	The Associated Press is reporting that Gonzalez was a member of the Navajo Nation. He was on his second tour of Iraq ... and is survived by a wife and child.

Friday, May 18, 2007 6:43 AM - UPDATE -
Anthony J. Schober, 23, of Reno, Nevada	Relatives have now informed CNN of the identity of the fourth soldier who died on Saturday, May 12th, in an ambush near Mahmudiyah: Sergeant Anthony J. Schober, 23, of Reno, Nevada. Schober was on his fourth tour of duty in Iraq at the time of his death.
	This news firmly establishes the identities of the three missing soldiers:
		Specialist Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts
		Private 1st Class Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, California
		Private Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Michigan

Friday, May 18, 2007 11:48 AM - UPDATE & INCOMINGS -
	(1) The Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News has learned that the three soldiers who died south of Baghdad on Thursday, May 17th, (see this CENTCOM release) were from the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. They died at Iskandariyah in Babil Province.
	(2) CENTCOM is reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers ... and the wounding of nine others ... "in separate attacks" in the southern part of Baghdad on Thursday, May 17th.

Saturday, May 19, 2007 4:38 AM - UPDATE -

Anselmo Martinez III, of Robstown, Texas

The Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller Times is reporting the death of Staff Sergeant Anselmo Martinez III of the Corpus Christi suburb of Robstown when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near Ba'qubah in Diyala Province on Friday, May 18th. Martinez graduated from high school in 1998 and joined the army in 2002 for the economic stability it afforded himself, his wife and two daughters. He was with the 1st Cavalry Division based out of Fort Hood, TX. Although scheduled to come home on leave by Mother's Day from this, his first, tour of Iraq, that leave kept getting pushed back. His mother said, "Now he's coming home in a box ... if he had come back when he was supposed to, this wouldn't have happened."

Saturday, May 19, 2007 6:22 AM - INCOMINGS -
	(1) CENTCOM is reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers when their patrol was attacked with an IED and small arms fire in a northwestern part of Baghdad on Friday, May 18th. Two soldiers were wounded in the attack.
	(2) CENTCOM is also reporting the death of a Multi-National Force - West soldier from enemy action in Al Anbar Province on Friday, May 18th.
	(3) CENTCOM is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Center soldier when he was attacked with small arms fire south of Baghdad on Friday, May 18th.
	(4) CENTCOM is also reporting the death of another Multi-National Division - Center soldier in a roadside bomb blast south of Baghdad "today" in a release dated Saturday, May 19th. Three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi soldiers were injured in the blast.

Saturday, May 19, 2007 7:16 AM - INCOMINGS -
Aaron Daniel Gautier, 19, of Hampton, Virginia	(1) Last night the DoD released the identity of a soldier killed "in Baghdad" on Thursday, May 17th, after his unit struck a roadside bomb and was attacked with small arms fire: Private 1st Class Aaron Daniel Gautier, 19, of Hampton, Virginia. His unit, the 2nd Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment, a Stryker unit out of Fort Lewis, WA, has supposedly been based recently out of Camp Taji, northwest of Baghdad, according to the latest from Wikipedia's Current Order of Battle. This does not fit very well the description of any death we know about so far on the 17th, so we are recording him as a new death for the time being. The Hampton Roads Daily Press out of Newport News (Virginia) has interviewed Gautier's father and learned that his son had only been in the army for a year ... and had only been in Iraq for four weeks. Gautier was actually wounded in the attack and transported to a nearby medical facility in Baghdad, but could not be saved. According to his father, the younger Gautier had been on patrol "searching for three missing soldiers". Gautier had been married for four months at the time of his passing.
Jonathan V. Hamm, 20, of Baltimore, Maryland	(2) The DoD has announced another apparent new death on Thursday, May 17th, not previously reported by CENTCOM ... that of Private 1st Class Jonathan V. Hamm, 20, of Baltimore, Maryland. He died in Baghdad when his forward operating base was hit with indirect fire, likely mortar rounds. As it happens, he was assigned to the same battalion that Pfc. Aaron Gautier was assigned to.

Sunday, May 20, 2007 6:22 AM - CORRECTION & INCOMING -
	(1) In a review of deaths from last week, we have noted that this CENTCOM release, describing the deaths of two soldiers in two separate incidents in the southern part of Baghdad, is vaguely enough written that it could indeed be describing the deaths of Private 1st Class Aaron D. Gautier and Private 1st Class Jonathan V. Hamm, both of whom were from the same battalion, same regiment. In the interest of not inflating the death count unnecessarily, we have merged what we'd posted previously as four separate deaths, thus reducing the death count by two.
	(2) The Korea Times is reporting the death of a South Korean officer in Iraq. Apparently the 1st Lieutenant, who was identified only by his family name "Oh", was found dead at the South Korean base at Irbil in northern Iraq, a gunshot wound under his jaw. His rifle and one empty cartridge were found nearby. Although stopping short of calling the death a suicide, officials at the site noted that there were no signs of an attack from the outside or a struggle of any kind. The man is the first South Korean death to occur in Iraq.

Sunday, May 20, 2007 6:56 AM - UPDATE -

Joshua Romero, 19, of Crowley, Texas

The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram is reporting the death of Fort Worth native Army Private 1st Class Joshua Romero, 19, in Iraq. The family was informed on Friday, May 18th. Romero was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, which is known to be patrolling the area around Ba'qubah in Diyala Province. This would likely make him one of the three roadside bomb deaths in Diyala on May 18th. Romero enlisted in the army in 2005 shortly after graduating from high school. For him, it was a way to earn money for college ... to "help open doors for his future." He leaves behind a wife and a 1-year-old son.

Sunday, May 20, 2007 8:16 AM - MULTIPLE INCOMINGS -
	(1) MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of six Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers and an interpreter in a roadside bomb blast in a western neighborhood of Baghdad on Saturday, May 19th.
	(2) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a 13th Sustainment Command soldier when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device near the city of Ad Diwaniyah in Qadisiyah Province south of Baghdad. Two soldiers were wounded in the incident.

Monday, May 21, 2007 9:37 AM - UPDATES -
Coty Phelps, 22, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona	(1) The Associated Press is reporting that the Army has released the name of one of the three soldiers who died in a roadside bomb attack near Iskandariyah on Thursday, May 17th: Specialist Coty Phelps, 22, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Phelps had joined the army through its Delayed Entry Program in February, 2004, graduating from high school four months later. Apparently, Phelps had training as a paralegal ... which is likely why his identity was released on the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps website.
Victor Michael Fontanilla, 23, of Tinian, Northern Marianas	(2) The Saipan (Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands) Tribune is reporting the death in Iraq of a young soldier who, although born in California, graduated from high school on the island of Tinian in the Northern Marianas: Private 1st Class Victor Michael Fontanilla, 23. Although the article doesn't specify an exact death date, it does state that his parents in the Northern Marianas were notified of the death on Friday, May 18th. It goes on to say that he was killed by a roadside bomb blast ... and that he was a graduate of the Army's Airborne School, as was Specialist Coty Phelps (above). For these reasons, we are guessing he is one of the three Iskandariyah IED deaths on Thursday, May 17th. The nightly rosary for the dead is being said at the home of his aunt in Stockton, CA. A special memorial service, which his parents are flying in to attend, will be held in Sacramento.