Six Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Sunday blast

By Christian Hill | The Olympian • Published May 08, 2007

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Pfc. Michael Pursel, a former Lacey resident, had just settled at Fort Lewis when officials asked for volunteers to serve in Iraq. An infantry battalion had taken heavy casualties, and the unit needed replacements.

Iraq casualties with local connections

Here’s a list of U.S. servicemembers with ties to South Sound who were killed in Iraq:

Army Pfc. Michael Pursel, 19, formerly of Lacey died May 6 in Diyala Province when a roadside bomb destroyed the vehicle he was in. Pursel was assigned to 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Lewis.

Army Pfc. Jerome J. Potter, 24, of Yelm, died May 3 in Baghdad of wounds suffered when a bomb exploded near his vehicle. Potter was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Hood, Texas.

Sgt. Mickel D. Garrigus, 24, of Elma died Jan. 27 in Taji when a a bomb detonated near his vehicle during combat patrol. Garrigus was assigned to the 543rd Military Police Company, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.

Army Sgt. Justin Norton, 21, a native of Rainier, was killed June 24, 2006, when a bomb exploded near Baghdad. He was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas.

Marine Staff Sgt. Abraham George Twitchell, 28, of Yelm was killed April 2, 2006, when the truck he was riding in rolled over in a flash flood. He was assigned to the 1st Marine Logistics Group, Combat Service Support Group 1, I Marine Expeditionary Force, in Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Marine Cpl. Joseph Bier, 22, of Centralia died Dec. 7, 2005, from a bomb blast in Ramadi. He was assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Navy Reserve Petty Officer 1st Class Regina Clark, 43, of Centralia was killed June 23, 2005, when a car bomb exploded near her vehicle in Fallujah. She was temporarily assigned to II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Air Force Master Sgt. Steven E. Auchman, 37, who was living in Lacey while stationed at Fort Lewis, was killed during a mortar attack in Mosul on Nov. 9, 2004. He was assigned to the 5th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Lewis.

Marine Corps Capt. Gregory Ratzlaff, 36, whose parents live in Olympia, died Aug. 3, 2004, from a noncombat-related incident. He was assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Cornell Gilmore, 45, formerly of Lacey, died Nov. 7, 2003, when his helicopter crashed. At the time of his death, he was assigned to the Judge Advocate General Office at the Pentagon.

“Michael was one of the first ones to raise his hand to go,” his mother, Terry Dutcher, said Monday.

Pursel, who turned 19 on April 14, was one of six Fort Lewis soldiers killed Sunday when a bomb destroyed their vehicle in the restive Diyala Province.

Pursel had been in Iraq a little more than a month.

The soldiers were assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, a Stryker brigade in its second tour to Iraq, the Army post confirmed.

Two other soldiers were wounded, and a Russian photographer was killed in the attack.

It was the deadliest attack on a Stryker since the new armored vehicles entered service in Iraq 31/2 years ago, The News Tribune reported.

The fast, eight-wheeled armored troop carrier that is the mainstay of the Fort Lewis infantry brigades has generally proven capable of protecting soldiers and crews inside from devastating explosions. But there have been catastrophic hits. The worst before Sunday came in April 2005, when two Fort Lewis soldiers and two from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Collins, Colo., were killed in a bombing on their Stryker near Tal Afar.

And only once before have so many Fort Lewis soldiers died in a single attack since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Six soldiers assigned to the Army post died during the suicide bombing of a mess tent near the Mosul airport in December 2004, an attack that killed 22.

With the deaths, the number of U.S. service members assigned to Fort Lewis who have died in Iraq now stands at 105. A memorial service for the six soldiers is tentatively scheduled for May 15.

In addition, more soldiers assigned to the brigade have died during its second deployment than its first. Twenty soldiers were killed during its yearlong tour in 2004; 25 soldiers have been killed during the second deployment. The unit is expected back in October.

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