Army Sgt. 1st Class James T. Hoffman

Died January 27, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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41, of Whitesburg, Ky.; assigned to Company B, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (Mech), Fort Riley, Kan.; killed Jan. 27 in an improvised explosive device attack in Khalidiyah, Iraq.

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Sgt. James Thomas Hoffman was a caring man, said Capt. Terrence Alvarez, who worked with him at Fort Riley, Kan. “He invited my son to go horseback riding with him and his family one day last summer. It was really a blessed day and a memory I will cherish, as will my son always,” Alvarez said at a memorial service for Hoffman and three comrades.

Hoffman, 41, was killed Jan. 27 in a bomb attack in Khalidiyah, Iraq.

After three years in the Army Reserve, Hoffman joined the active Army in 1987 and was assigned to Fort Campbell. He served in the Gulf War, later was stationed in Germany, and then at Fort Riley in 1994. In 1998, he was assigned to recruiting duty in Des Moines, Iowa. He returned to Fort Riley in 2001 and was deployed to Iraq in September. Hoffman grew up in Palatine, Ill.

— Associated Press