Houstonians continue to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country in Iraq. They have our respect and gratitude.
Another Houston native has died this month while serving in Iraq, making him the area's seventh war casualty, the Defense Department announced Thursday.Posted by Alan at October 25, 2003 12:03 AMSpc. John P. Johnson, 24, died Oct. 22 in Baghdad of noncombat-related injuries. He was assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division in Baumholder, Germany. No other details about the incident were released.
Pfc. Analaura Esparza-Gutierrez, 21, of Houston was killed Oct. 1 by a bomb during an attack on her convoy in Tikrit, Iraq. Gutierrez, a native of Mexico, was the fourth female U.S. soldier to die in combat in the war.
Other casualties include:
· Army 1st Lt. Jonathan D. Rozier, 25, died July 19 when his unit was fired upon by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in Baghdad. Rozier, a Dallas native, moved to Katy with his family in 1991.
· Army Cpl. Tomas Sotelo Jr, 20, died June 27 in Baghdad when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle. The Houston native graduated from Reagan High School.
· Marine Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, died along with three other U.S. Marines and eight British Marines when their CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed March 20 about nine miles south of the Iraqi border town of Umm Qasr. Kennedy's stepmother lives here.
· Marine Staff Sgt. Phillip Jordan, 42, who grew up in Houston, Alvin and League City, was one of eight Marines killed on March 23 when ambushed near An Nasiriyah.
· Marine Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Arnold, 30, of Spring was one of three Marines killed at Kut on April 22 when an Iraqi weapon they were test-firing malfunctioned. He graduated from Klein Oak High School in 1990.
via the Houston Chronicle