Battalion commander killed in Iraq

[unhappycamper]

Lt. Col. Garnet R. Derby
Victim of suicide car bomb attack in Mosul


Battalion commander killed in Iraq
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 13, 2009 13:08:10 EST

Lt. Col. Garnet R. Derby, commander of 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, was killed Feb. 9 in a suicide car bomb attack in northern Iraq that also killed three of his soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter.

Derby, 44, of Missoula, Mont., was the 19th Army lieutenant colonel killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war, and he is believed to be one of only three battalion commanders killed by hostile fire in that war. The other soldiers killed in the same attack were Sgt. Joshua A. Ward, 30, of Scottsville, Ky.; Pfc. Albert R. Jex, 23, of Phoenix, Ariz.; and Pfc. Jonathan R. Roberge, 22, of Leominster, Mass.

The soldiers’ battalion belongs to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, of Fort Hood, Texas. The brigade deployed to Iraq in December and is on its third tour in Iraq.

The attack in Mosul was the deadliest single attack against American forces in Iraq in nine months, according to The Associated Press.

The AP reported that the blast occurred as the American vehicles were passing near an Iraqi police checkpoint. A statement from the U.S. military said three soldiers died at the scene of the attack, and a fourth soldier and the interpreter died at a military hospital.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/army_carbomb2_021309w/%2e