Military deaths

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, or who died at a military hospital of their injuries:

Christopher R. Barton, 22, of Concord, N.C.; private first class, Army. Barton was killed Monday when his unit was attacked with small-arms fire in eastern Afghanistan’s Khowst province, on the Pakistani border. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Ft. Campbell, Ky.

Philip P. Clark, 19, of Gainesville, Fla.; lance corporal, Marine Corps. Clark was killed May 18 when he was struck by shrapnel while on foot patrol in the Marja region of southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, on the Pakistani border. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Ronald W. Culver Jr., 44, of Shreveport, La.; major, Army National Guard. Culver was killed Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy vehicle in Numaniya, Iraq, southeast of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 108th Cavalry Regiment in Shreveport, La.

Jason D. Fingar, 24, of Columbia, Mo.; private first class, Army. Fingar was killed May 22 when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Durai in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, on the Pakistani border. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Amilcar H. Gonzalez, 26, of Miami; staff sergeant, Army. Gonzalez was killed May 21 when his unit with attacked with small-arms fire in Ash Shura in Iraq’s Nineveh province, on the Syrian border. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at Ft. Stewart, Ga.

Jacob C. Leicht, 24, of College Station, Texas; corporal, Marine Corps. Leicht was killed Thursdaywhen a roadside bomb exploded near him while he was on foot patrol in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, on the Pakistani border. He was assigned to the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton.

Edwin Rivera, 28, of Waterford, Conn.; sergeant, Army. Rivera died Tuesday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., of injuries suffered May 20 in a firefight at Contingency Outpost Xio Haq in eastern Afghanistan’s Laghman province, east of Kabul. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 102nd Infantry Regiment in Norwalk, Conn.

Stanley J. Sokolowski III, 26, of Ocean, N.J.; specialist, Army. Solokowski died of noncombat-related injuries May 20 in Kirkuk, Iraq, north of Baghdad. He was assigned to Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Ft. Bliss, Texas.

Sources: Department of Defense and the Associated Press