Who Were The First Soldiers To Die In The Afghanistan And Iraq Wars?

Who were the first American servicemen to be killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Eric Hutton
Marion, Va.

The first to be killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan was Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, a 31-year-old Green Beret killed Jan. 4, 2002, three months into the conflict.

Chapman was on a mission in a remote area near the Pakistan border when he was killed during an exchange of small arms fire.

Before Chapman’s death, five other U.S. soldiers had been killed and several injured in accidents, one of which when U.S. bombs fell off target.

On March 21, 2003, Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22, of Lomita, Calif., became the first combat casualty of the war in Iraq.

Gutierrez, who was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif., was killed in action in southern Iraq.

His story is what America is about.

Gutierrez was an orphan on the streets of Guatemala City, where he learned about America from the minister at a children’s shelter. At 14, he made his way to California by hopping freight trains and walking.

After being raised in California foster homes, Gutierrez joined the Marines to make money for college and to send to his sister in Guatemala.

While Gutierrez was the first combat death, two other deaths happened two days later in a bizarre attack by a U.S. soldier as the unit waited in Kuwait for orders to enter Iraq.

Capt. Christopher Seifert, of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, of Boise, Idaho, were killed March 23, 2003, when fellow soldier Sgt. Hasan Karim Akbar tossed hand grenades into their tent at Camp Pennsylvania, a staging base for the invasion. Fourteen other soldiers were wounded in the incident.

I remember the incident well. The newspaper I worked for in Clarksville, Tenn., The Leaf-Chronicle, had its military affairs reporter embedded with the 101st, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., adjacent to Clarksville.

We quickly received news and details of the early morning attack, which was so surreal for reporter Chantal Escoto, and for those of us in the newsroom. 

Because the Army released few details about Seifert, I contacted his hometown newspaper in Easton, Pa., and obtained information about Seifert’s parents, school friends and his ROTC instructor. I was glad to further inform our readers about the soldier, who lived in Clarksville with his wife and young son.

In the days, weeks and months that followed, the job of gathering such information about fallen 101st soldiers became mine. While I was glad to personalize the names that would eventually be placed on grave markers, I hated the duty.

So now that July Fourth fireworks have fizzled, let us remember the many who died serving their country, and unfortunately, the many more who also will sacrifice to ensure our freedom.

MARK HICKS is assistant city editor at the Herald Courier and can be reached at (276) 645-2546 or by e-mail at . Questions can be mailed to Question Mark, Bristol Herald Courier, P.O. Box 609, Bristol, VA 24203.