José Rivera
Army Sgt. José A. Rivera, 34, Born in Barranquitas,
PR and resided in Fayetteville, NC. Unit: 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC on November 5, 2003 Died by enemy fire
while on patrol near Mahmudiyah, Iraq
Jose A Rivera Aponte
Rest In Peace
Puerto Rican soldier killed
in Iraq
Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Puerto Rican soldier was killed when a patrol came
under rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire near Baghdad, a military
official said Thursday.
Sgt. Jose Rivera, 34, of Puerto Rico, was killed and two others wounded
Wednesday when they were attacked near Mahmudiyah, 15 miles south of Baghdad,
Army spokesman Jose Pagan said.
Rivera became the fourth soldier of Puerto Rican descent to die in Iraq in four
days and the 13th to be killed since the war began.
He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, N.C., and
lived there with his wife and three children, Pagan said. He also has family in
this U.S. Caribbean territory.
His hometown was not immediately available.
Two soldiers of Puerto Rican descent, including a woman, were killed Sunday in
the downing of the Chinook helicopter. Another Puerto Rican was killed Tuesday
when a roadside bomb hit the truck he was traveling in. At least two of the
Puerto Ricans will be buried on the island, and one in Newark, N.J.
They are included among the 254 U.S. service members killed in Iraq by hostile
fire since the U.S.-led invasion began in March.
The nearly 4 million Puerto Ricans living on the island cannot vote for
president and have no vote in U.S. Congress. Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens
in 1917 during World War I, and 3.4 million of them now live in the U.S.
mainland.
LINKS
fallenheroesmemorial.com/Message Board
View All Our Fallen Boricuas Heroes in my Gallery
Read about 65th Infantry Regiment
known as
The
65th
BorinQueneers
participated in
WWI, WWII & Korean Conflict
www.PR
Soldier.Com
SenorBoriQua.Net©