Blast kills
Schofield soldier
in KirkukPfc. John Amos is one of eight
fatalities from an explosive device
A second Schofield Barracks soldier has been killed in Iraq during a weekend of violence that included the deaths of eight other U.S. soldiers in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City.
Pfc. John D. Amos II, 22, of Valparaiso, Ind., was killed on Sunday in Kirkuk. He was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, the Pentagon said.
COURTESY KVBC
John D. Amos II: His father says the soldier wanted to become a police officer in Las Vegas
The Army in Tikrit said last night Amos was killed and seven of his colleagues wounded Sunday by an improvised explosive device at a temporary checkpoint near the Kirkuk police station. Amos died of his wounds en route to a medical facility following the 4 p.m. explosion.
His father told a Las Vegas television, KVBC, that his son's nickname was J.D. and his unit was doing a sweep when the bomb exploded. Amos enlisted in the Army right after Sept. 11, 2001, his father said.
The family said that he had planned to visit them in June. Amos was from Indiana, but his dad says he eventually wanted to be a police officer in Las Vegas.
He was the seventh person with island ties who has died since the Iraqi war began last year. Five were killed last year.
Pfc. Ernest Sutphin, 21, was the first 25th Division soldier to die in combat since more than 4,000 soldiers left Wahiawa two months ago for a yearlong deployment to Iraq.
Sutphin was one of seven soldiers riding in a Humvee on a night patrol March 11 when the vehicle slid into a canal north of Al Hawija. All of the seven soldiers were members of the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry of the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
COURTESY PHOTO
Ernest Sutphin: The 21-year-old died after the Humvee he was riding in crashed in Iraq
He was taken to the Army Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany where he lived on life-support systems until March 18.
As of yesterday, the Associated Press said 607 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq last year, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 417 died as a result of hostile action and 190 died of non-hostile causes.
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Hawaii's losses in war
In addition to Sunday's death of John Amos II, these soldiers with Hawaii ties have been killed during the war in Iraq:
2004
>> March 18: Pfc. Ernest Sutphin, 21, of Parkersburg, W.Va., was one of seven soldiers riding in a Humvee during a night patrol in Al Hawija on March 11 when the vehicle rolled into a canal. He was a member of the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry of the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, stationed at Schofield Barracks. He was taken off life support on March 18.
2003
>> March 30: Sgt. Eugene Williams, a former 25th Infantry Division soldier whose wife and two children live in Wahiawa, was killed by a suicide bomber at a roadblock north of Najaf. Williams was assigned to the 3rd Division when he was killed.>> Sept. 1: Staff Sgt. Cameron Sarno, 43, a member of the Army Reserve's 257th Transportation Company in Las Vegas, was sideswiped by a truck while changing a tire in Kuwait. Sarno formerly lived in Waipahu.
>> Nov. 7: Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth, 43, an official in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, was killed when the Black Hawk helicopter in which she had been a passenger was shot down. She was planning to retire in Mililani at the end of the year.
>> Nov. 15: Sgt. 1st Class Kelly Martin Liberato Bolor, a Maui resident, was killed in the collision of two Black Hawk helicopters. Bolor was one of 17 101st Airborne Division soldiers killed in the largest single loss of American life in Iraq since major combat ended May 1, the military said.
>> Nov. 15: 2nd Lt. Jeremy L. Wolfe, 27, of Menomonie, Wis., was a pilot of one of the Black Hawks that crashed. He graduated from Hawaii Pacific University in 2002 and was commissioned through the University of Hawaii Army ROTC program.
