Army 1st Lt. Daniel B. Hyde

Died March 7, 2009 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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24, of Modesto, Calif.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; died March 7 in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an explosive device struck his unit vehicle.

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Officer remembered for energy, optimism

First Lt. Daniel B. Hyde didn’t throw in the towel. A high school football teammate shared one story about how, coming into a huddle even 30 to 40 points behind, “Daniel would say, ‘We can still get back into it!”‘ Brian Hyde said. “He was never a ‘give up’ type.”

Hyde, 24, of Modesto, Calif., died March 7 after an explosive device struck his vehicle in Tikrit. He was assigned to Schofield Barracks.

Hyde played football, basketball and golf in high school, and was a member of at least two academic honor societies, maintaining a 4.20 GPA. He volunteered at Delta Blood Bank and worked at a golf course.

He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 2007.

“Dan was a great soldier, leader and human being, a natural leader who had an immediate and profound impact on everyone he came in contact with,” Maj. Gen. Robert Caslen said.

Frank Bispo was Hyde’s head football coach. “You don’t coach too many kids like him. He was a good athlete, a good student, a good person. He had it all,” Bispo said. “I have four daughters and there’s very few young men I would want to marry them. But he’s that kind of man.”

He is survived by his parents, Glenda and Brian.