Isle family of Nevada
soldier killed in
Kuwait gets $6,000
LAS VEGAS >> Jamie Lynn Gallarde fought tears as she accepted a $6,000 check from the Nevada Patriot Fund in honor of her brother, Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Cameron Sarno, a Las Vegas soldier killed last month in an accident in Kuwait.
"It hasn't been easy for us," Gallarde said Wednesday after traveling to Las Vegas from Waipahu to gather her brother's personal effects. "I'm still having a hard time accepting that my brother is not here."
Gallarde said Sarno's son, Cameron "B.J." Takeuchi, a soldier who served in Afghanistan until his father's death, remained at home on Oahu.
She said the Sarno family was grateful for "the caring and loving support from the state of Nevada" and said the money would help defray funeral expenses.
Sarno's family was the first of four to benefit from a fund established to help relatives of Nevada soldiers and Marines killed supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sarno, 43, of the Las Vegas-based 257th Transportation Company, died when a military vehicle crashed into his parked tractor-trailer while he was changing a flat tire on a heavy transport truck Sept. 1 in Kuwait City.
Lawyer Joe Brown, chairman of the private, nonprofit Nevada Patriot Fund, said three more checks, each for $12,000, will go to the widows and children of Marine 1st Lt. Fred Pokorney of Tonopah, and Marine Lance Cpl. Donald "John" Cline and Army Capt. Josh Byers of Sparks.
Pokorney and Cline were killed in action March 23 near Nasiriyah, Iraq.
Byers, a West Point graduate and a commander in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, was killed July 23 when his convoy was attacked near Ramadi, Iraq.
The Nevada Patriot Fund was established in April, and sanctioned by Gov. Kenny Guinn and Nevada's congressional delegation.
Brown said about $74,000 has been donated by corporations, churches, politicians, veterans groups and a conservation organization.
He said some money remained to assist the families of future war casualties from Nevada, but added that if Operation Iraqi Freedom ends with no more deaths from the state, the remaining money in the account would be distributed to the four families.
