Marine Sgt. Byron W. Norwood

Died November 13, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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25, of Pflugerville, Texas; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed Nov. 13 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

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Fallen Marine’s parents honored during State of the Union speech

By Jennifer Loven

Associated Press

Two women who voted in recent elections in Iraq and Afghanistan and the parents of an American soldier killed in recent fighting were Laura Bush’s special guests in her VIP box at President Bush’s State of the Union address Wednesday.

Safia Taleb al-Suhail of Iraq and Homira G. Nassery of Afghanistan flanked Mrs. Bush.

Directly behind the first lady sat Janet and William Norwood of Pflugerville, Texas, whose son, Sgt. Byron Norwood, was killed Nov. 13, 2004, by sniper fire during an assault on Fallujah.

They received a standing ovation when introduced, prompting an emotional moment as Mrs. Norwood and al-Suhail embraced. After her son’s death, Mrs. Norwood wrote to the president in support of his policies in Iraq.

Al-Suhail, leader of the Iraqi Women’s Political Council, became politically active after her father was assassinated in 1996 in Beirut by Saddam Hussein’s secret service. She is married to Bakhtiar Amin, a Kurdish political activist and founder of the Iraqi Democracy Institute in the United States. He is now Iraqi minister of human rights.

Nassery voted in Afghanistan’s historic presidential election last October. She wants to set up a venture capital firm for women in her native Afghanistan, according to the White House.

She runs a program that trains female civil servants and teaches leadership development at the University of Kabul School of Law and Political Science. Previously she worked as a public health specialist for The World Bank in Rwanda, Eritrea, Mozambique, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

Other VIP guests included representatives of each military service branch: Navy Lt. Cmdr. Roberto Atha of Miami, who flew missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, including an April 2003 rescue of an American POW and the remains of 11 dead U.S. service members; Marine Corps Staff Sgt. John Manuel Martinez of Brooklyn, N.Y., a recipient of multiple medals who fought in Afghanistan; Army Staff Sgt. Norbert Lara of Copperas Cove, Texas, a military policeman who lost his right arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack; Air Force Master Sgt. Karlette Melendez of West Pittston, Pa., a coordinator of logistical and operational support for senior military and civilian officials; Coast Guard Damage Controlman Second Class Gerald J. Fox IV of Laurinburg, N.C., who rescued wounded soldiers injured after an explosion on a neighboring vessel.