Army Pfc. Justin A. Casillas

Died July 4, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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19, of Dunnigan, Calif.; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died July 4 at Combat Outpost Zerok, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked the outpost using small arms and indirect fires. Also killed was Pfc. Aaron E. Fairbairn.

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Calif. soldier killed by bomb in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

DUNNIGAN, Calif. — Pentagon officials say a soldier from Yolo County was killed on July 4 during an insurgent attack in Afghanistan.

Nineteen-year-old Pfc. Justin Aaron Casillas was one of two soldiers killed when a truck bomb exploded at Combat Outpost Zerok. Also killed was 20-year-old Pfc. Aaron Fairbairn of Aberdeen, Wash.

The attack also injured seven other U.S. soldiers.

Casillas and Fairbairn were assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Casillas, of Dunnigan, was a paratrooper who had been deployed only four months. He graduated from Pierce High School in Arbuckle last year.