Army Sgt. David B. Parson

Died July 6, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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30, Kannapolis, N.C.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Friedburg, Germany; shot and killed while conducting a raid on a house in Baghdad July 6.

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David B. Parson joined the Marines about a year after high school graduation, then left after four years to move closer to his mother and stepfather. He worked for a time doing maintenance on planes owned by NASCAR drivers. But he found he preferred a more regimented life and joined the Army, said stepfather Bill Whitlow.

The family shipped out to his base in Germany in February, and Parson left for Iraq on Mother’s Day. Parson, 30, of Kannapolis, N.C., died July 6 under hostile fire in Iraq. He would have been married six years on July 17. He and his wife, Mary “Emmy” Parson, 23, have three children, ages 1 to 4.

— Associated Press