Connecticut's War Dead
A list of military personnel with ties to Connecticut who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
6:25 PM EDT, August 24, 2010
Steven DeLuzio, 25, of Glastonbury, died August 22, 2010, while serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
May 27, 2010
Sgt. Edwin Rivera died May 27, 2010 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., of wounds he received in a firefight in Laghman Province on May 20.
April 4, 2010
Tyler Owen Griffin, a 19-year-old Marine lance corporal from Voluntown, was recently killed in Afghanistan.
December 31, 2009
As a paratrooper and nurse, Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Jay Spino's job was to help the wounded.
December 11, 2009
On Monday, in his Texas hospital room, the gravely ill Cpl. Xhacob LaTorre of Waterbury received a Purple Heart for the wounds he suffered in August from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
October 5, 2009
Capt. Benjamin A. Sklaver of Hamden died Oct. 2, 2009 in an ambush while on patrol in Muscheh, Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. He was 32.
June 29, 2009
Sgt. 1c Edward C. Kramer, 39, of Southington, died in Iraq on June 29, 2009.
September 25, 2008
First Lt. Thomas J. Brown, who grew up in Shelton, was killed in Iraq on Sept. 23, 2008 in Salman Pak, Iraq. He was 26.
June 8, 2008
Marine Cpl. Christian Cotner of Waterbury died May 30, 2008 in a non-hostile incident in Iraq's Anbar province on his first tour duty in Iraq. Details of his death were not released. He was 20 years old.
October 12, 2007
Army Sgt. Jason Lantieri of Killingworth, a member of the Alaska-based 725th Brigade Support Battalion of the 25th Infantry Division, died Oct. 10, 2007 of injuries suffered during vehicle maneuvers. He was 25.
July 8, 2007
Navy SEAL Jason D. Lewis, a Brookfield native and special warfare operator first class, was killed in combat July 6, 2007 in Baghdad. He was 30 years old, and left a wife and three children in Virginia.
June 28, 2007
Army Pfc. Andre Craig Jr. of New Haven was killed when a bomb exploded near the convoy on which he was serving as a gunner in Baghdad. He was 24 years old and left an infant daughter.
May 30, 2007
Army 1st Lt. Keith Heidtman was killed May 28, 2007 - Memorial Day - when enemy fire brought down his helicopter in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. He was 24 years old.
March 25, 2007
Army Pfc. Orlando Gonzalez, 21, of Bridgeport, died in Iraq on March 25, 2007.
March 23, 2007
Army Pfc. Stephen K. Richardson, who grew up in Bridgeport, was killed March 20, 2007 by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. He was 22 years old, and left a wife and daughter in Kansas.
February 23, 2007
Army Sgt. Richard L. Ford, a decorated soldier from East Hartford, died Feb. 20, 2007 on his third deployment to Iraq of wounds suffered from small arms fire near Baghdad. He was 40 years old.
December 19, 2006
Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Joseph E. Phaneuf II of Eastford died Dec. 15, 2006 when the armored vehicle he was driving struck a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. He was 38 years old, and left a wife and three children.
November 28, 2006
Army Capt. Jason Hamill, 31, who grew up in Salem, was killed Nov. 26, 2006 with two other soldiers when a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad. He was within days of finishing his tour in Iraq.
September 6, 2006
Army Pfc. Nicholas A. Madaras of Wilton, a soldier with the 4th Infantry Division, was killed by a bomb while on foot patrol in Baqouba, Iraq, on Sept. 3, 2006. He was 19 years old.
September 5, 2006
Lance Cpl. Philip A. Johnson of Enfield, a member of the Young Marines from the age of 11, was killed Sept. 3, 2006, by a roadside bomb near Ramadi, Iraq. He was 19 years old.
August 27, 2006
Marine Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson of Milford, 21, died Aug. 25, 2006 from hostile gunfire while on foot patrol in Fallujah. He was a member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines.
May 5, 2006
Marine Cpl. Stephen Bixler, a 2003 graduate of Suffield High School, was killed May 4, 2006 while on foot patrol near Fallujah in Iraq. He was 20.
May 6, 2006
Marine Capt. Brian S. Letendre, a Virginia native who lived in New Britain for 18 months, was killed in combat in Al Anbar province on May 3, 2006, on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He left a wife and 3-year-old son.
August 4, 2005
Marine Sgt. David Coullard, who grew up in Glastonbury, was killed Aug. 1, 2005 by small-arms fire in Haditha, Iraq, with five others in a sniper team. He was 32 years old.
July 1, 2005
U.S. Army Major Steve Reich, a West Point graduate and baseball standout from Washington, Conn., died June 28, 2005 with 15 others when militants shot down a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan. He was 34 years old, and had recently married.
June 26, 2005
Army Spec. Christopher Hoskins of Killingly died June 21, 2005 in Ramadi, Iraq, when his unit came under small arms fire. He had recently re-enlisted. He was 21 years old.
May 16, 2005
Marine Lance Cpl. John T. Schmidt III of Brookfield died May 11, 2005 in an army hospital in San Antonio of combat injuries he suffered Jan. 30, 2005 in Al Anbar province in Iraq. He was 21 years old.
May 11, 2005
Marine Lance Cpl. Lawrence R. Philippon of West Hartford was killed by small arms fire May 8, 2005 in Al Anbar province in western Iraq. He was 22 years old.
January 20, 2005
Army Staff Sgt. Thomas E. Vitagliano was killed, along with another member of the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, by a car bomb on Jan. 17, 2004 in Ramadi, Iraq. He was 33 and had been engaged to marry.
December 15, 2004
Army Spc. Robert Hoyt, a member of the C Company, 102nd Infantry Battalion from Bristol, was killed Dec. 11, 2004 when his armored vehicle struck a bomb in Baghdad. He was a graduate of E.O Smith High School in Storrs and has family in the Ashford area. He was 21 years old.
December 7, 2004
Army Staff Sgt. Henry E. Irizarry of Waterbury died Dec. 3, 1004 in Taji, Iraq, when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle. He was 38 years old.
December 2, 2004
Army Lt. Col. Michael J. McMahon, who grew up in West Hartford and graduated from Conard High School, died Nov. 27, 2004 in a plane crash in the mountains near Bamiyan, Afghanistan. McMahon, 41, left a wife, also a lieutenant colonel, and three children.
November 25, 2004
Army Sgt. Joseph Michael Nolan, a Waterbury native and graduate of Wolcott High School, died Nov. 18 in Fallujah. He was assigned to the 312th Military Intelligence Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, from Fort Hood, Texas. He was 27 years old.
November 16, 2004
Marine Cpl. Kevin J. Dempsey of Monroe died Nov. 13, 2004 in an explosion in Al Anbar Province in Iraq. Dempsey, a graduate of New Canaan High School, was in the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, attached to the II Marine Expeditionary Force. He was 23.
October 19, 2004
Army Chief Warrant Officer William Brennan died Oct. 16, 2004 when the helicopter he was flying collided with another over Baghdad. He grew up in Behlehem, Conn., and leaves a wife and two daughters in Hawaii. He was 36 years old.
August 28, 2004
Army Spec. Jacob D. Martir, a native of Puerto Rico who grew up in Willimantic and Norwich, was killed Aug. 18, 2004 by small-arms fire while on patrol in a part of Baghdad known as Sadr City. He was 21 years old.
June 9, 2004
Army Private First Class Melissa Hobart, who grew up in East Haven, collapsed and died June 6, 2004 while serving guard duty in Baghdad. The cause of her death had yet to be determined. She was 22, and leaves a 3-year-old daughter.
April 9, 2004
Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal, who lived in Ridgefield during his teens, died April 24, 2004 in an attack near the Khawr Al Amaya oil terminal. His was the first combat death for the Coast Guard since the Vietnam War. He was 24 years old.
April 9, 2004
Army Sgt. Felix Delgreco of Simsbury, a member of C Company, 102nd Infantry in Bristol, was killed April 9, 2004 while on patrol in Baghdad, when his vehicle struck an improvised bomb and was attacked with small arms. He was the first member of the Connecticut Army National Guard to die in Iraq. He was 22 years old.
April 10, 2004
Army Spec. Tyanna Avery-Felder died April 6, 2004, about two days after she was wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq. She was a cook with the Army's Stryker Brigade, based in Fort Lewis, Wash. She was raised in Bridgeport, and was the first woman from Connecticut to die in Iraq. She was 22 years old.
February 15, 2004
Army Sgt. Benjamin Gilman of Meriden, a combat engineer with the Army's 41st Engineering Battalion, died Jan. 29, 2004, in an accidental explosion while his unit tried to dispose of a weapons cache in Ghanzi, Afghanistan. He was 28 years old.
January 7, 2004
Army Capt. Eric Thomas Paliwoda, who grew up in Farmington and West Hartford, died Jan. 2, 2004 in a mortar attack on his base at Balad, Iraq. He commanded Company B of the 4th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. He was 28 years old.
December 20, 2003
Army Pfc. Jeffrey Braun of Stafford, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, died December 11, 2003 in Baghdad. The Department of Defense said he died from a "non-hostile gunshot wound." He was 19 years old.
November 26, 2003
Army Sgt. Maj. Philip Albert, who grew up in Plymouth, died Nov. 23, 2003 a helicopter crash near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. He was stationed at Fort Drum in upstate New York with the 10th Mountain Division. He was 41 years old.
November 9, 2003
Army Pfc. Anthony D'Agostino of Waterbury was one of 16 U.S. soldiers who died after a CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down over Iraq Nov. 2, 2003. He was a communications specialist attached to the 16th Signal Brigade in Fort Hood, Texas. He was 20 years old.
August 24, 2003
Army Sgt. David Travis Friedrich of Naugatuck, a member of the 325th Military Intelligence Company in Waterbury, died Sept. 20, 2003 when mortars hit a U.S. base near the Abu Ghraib prison on the western outskirts of Baghdad. He was 26 years old.
August 24, 2003
Army Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Jr., a counterintelligence analyst who grew up in Guilford, died in his sleep in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Aug. 20, 2003. The Army reported that he probably died of pulmonary edema. He was 37 years old.
July 31, 2003
Army Pfc. Wilfredo Perez Jr. of Norwalk was guarding a children's hospital in Baquouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, when he and two other members of the 4th Infantry Division were killed in a grenade attack on July 26, 2003. He was 24 years old.
April 28, 2003
Marine Cpl. Kemaphoon ``Ahn'' Chanawongse of Waterford was running to retrieve ammunition when he was killed by an enemy round on March 23, 2003 in a battle in Nasiriyah, Iraq. He was 22 years old.
March 26, 2003
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Phillip Jordan of Enfield, a Texas native based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. He died March 23, 2003 in a battle in Nasiriyah, Iraq. He was 42 years old.
March 7, 2002
Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman died on March 4, 2002 along with six other servicemen during a reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan. Chapman, 36, was the first Connecticut native to die in combat in the war in Afghanistan..
