Army 1st Lt. Adam Malson

Died February 19, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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23, of Rochester Hills, Mich.; assigned to the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Fort Drum, N.Y.; killed Feb. 19 when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was on patrol in Baghdad.

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Rochester Hills native dies in Iraq suicide blast

Associated Press

DETROIT — An Army lieutenant from suburban Detroit who was assisting an injured Iraqi woman was killed by a suicide bomber.

First Lt. Adam Malson, 23, of Rochester Hills, died Saturday while on patrol in Baghdad, the Department of Defense said.

A series of attacks Friday and Saturday, including eight suicide bombings, killed 91 people and injured dozens as Iraqi Shiites commemorated the seventh century death of a leader of their Muslim sect.

Malson was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Drum, N.Y. His parents, Ben and Debra Malson, said they were told Malson had stopped to help an injured Iraqi woman near a Shiite mosque when he and an Iraqi translator were killed. The woman survived.

“I really think his compassion overcame him,” Ben Malson told the Detroit Free Press on Sunday. “He didn’t have to do that. He did what he felt was right. I think she must have felt comfort knowing that there was an American soldier over you, telling you everything’s OK.”

Malson is the 42nd member of the U.S armed forces with known Michigan ties killed supporting military operations in Iraq. He was to return home from Iraq in four months.

Malson starred in football, wrestling and track at Rochester High School. He graduated in 2003 from Michigan State University, where he met his wife, Lindsey, 24, while both were enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. They would have celebrated their third anniversary in May.

Besides his parents and widow, Malson is survived by a sister and a brother.

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Flags at half-staff to honor soldier killed in Iraq

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday ordered U.S. flags across the state to be lowered later this week to honor an Army lieutenant from suburban Detroit who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.

Adam Malson, 23, of Rochester Hills, died Sunday while on patrol in Baghdad, the Department of Defense said. The military told his family that he was helping a wounded woman near a mosque when a suicide bomber exploded behind him, killing him and a translator. The woman survived.

Granholm ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-mast for Malson on Friday.

Malson was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.

His wife, 1st Lt. Lindsey Malson, is a military police officer also stationed there, his father, Ben Malson, said. The couple met in ROTC at Michigan State University.

Adam Malson starred in football, wrestling and track at Rochester High School and earned a regional weightlifting trophy for his weight class at Michigan State, his father said.

— Associated Press

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Flags at half-staff to honor Michigan soldier killed in Iraq

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday ordered U.S. flags across the state to be lowered later this week to honor an Army lieutenant from suburban Detroit who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.

Adam Malson, 23, of Rochester Hills, died Sunday while on patrol in Baghdad, the Department of Defense said. The military told his family that he was helping a wounded woman near a mosque when a suicide bomber exploded behind him, killing him and a translator. The woman survived.

Granholm ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-mast for Malson on Friday.

Malson was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.

His wife, 1st Lt. Lindsey Malson, is a military police officer also stationed there, his father, Ben Malson, said. The couple met in ROTC at Michigan State University.

Adam Malson starred in football, wrestling and track at Rochester High School and earned a regional weightlifting trophy for his weight class at Michigan State, his father said.

— Associated Press