Soldier wounded in Iraq in 2005 dies following skull operation

[NNN0LHI]

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=6677145

YUMA, Ariz. -- A Yuma soldier who was wounded two years ago during his second tour of duty in Iraq has died following an operation to replace a missing piece of his skull, a family member said.

Sgt. Frank Sandoval died Monday at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., his father, Rick Sandoval, told The Yuma Sun.

Frank Sandoval had undergone surgery last week to replace the missing skull piece with a prosthetic mold.

The hospital declined to further comment on his death. He leaves behind a wife, Michelle, and a 5-year-old daughter, Jolena.

Sandoval was injured in November 2005 in Baghdad after he volunteered to be in the lead vehicle on a patrol. He had been manning a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a Humvee when an explosion from a roadside bomb caused a projectile to become lodged in his right temple, forcing doctors to remove a piece of his skull.

[Jim Warren]

1. Just so sad

Replacing a piece of missing skull, so the last two years must have been a real picnic as well.

Add this man to the under-reported casualties, a list who knows how many times greater than the official count. It has gone unremarked the pentagon practice of not counting those soldiers who were wounded but died out of country after being evacuated to a med facility in Germany. I've searched for that number but come up empty.

[Crunchy Frog]

2. Icasualties tracks them.

http://icasualties.org/oif/Dow.aspx

Sandoval's not listed yet, but probably will be soon.