Army Cpl. Junior Cedeno Sanchez

Died May 28, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Miami; assigned to 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.; died May 28 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position during a dismounted patrol. Also killed was Staff Sgt. Thomas M. McFall.

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3 Fort Lewis soldiers die in Iraq

The Associated Press

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Three Fort Lewis soldiers were killed in Iraq as the number of casualties from the post climbed to 19 for the month of May, the deadliest month for the post since the war began.

The soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in the past week, the Defense Department said in news releases May 30.

Staff Sgt. Thomas M. McFall, 36, of Glendora, Calif., and Cpl. Junior Cedeno Sanchez, 20, of Miami, died May 28 when an explosive detonated nearby during a dismounted patrol in Baghdad. Both were assigned to 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, one of two Fort Lewis Stryker brigades serving in Iraq.

On May 26, Pfc. Charles B. Hester, 23, of Cataldo, Idaho, died in Baghdad when his vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb. Hester was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis’ other Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which has been in Iraq since June.

Hester had been in the Army since May 2004. He arrived at Fort Lewis in September 2004, where he was assigned to the 3rd Brigade.

McFall joined the Army in October 1994 and served a year in Korea beginning February 1997. He then reported to Fort Lewis to serve with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.

In April 2001, McFall was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and deployed to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, from April 2004 through March 2005. He returned to Fort Lewis that September and had served since January with the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment.

Sanchez joined the Army in November 2005 and reported to Fort Lewis last June for assignment to the 4th Brigade’s 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry. The unit left for Iraq last month. He was posthumously promoted from the rank of private first class.

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Friends, family remember Miami soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

Army Pfc. Junior Cedeno Sanchez’s cousin, Joel Morel Jimenez, remembered him as a generous and loyal friend who spent hours playing video baseball games — choosing teams that would let him use Dominican legend Sammy Sosa.

Sanchez, 20, of Miami, was killed May 28 by an explosive in Baghdad. He was assigned to Fort Lewis, Wash.

Cedeno Sanchez was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to Puerto Rico and then Florida as a youngster.

He had joined the military in hopes of becoming a commercial pilot, a dream of his since age 16, said his grandmother Miguelina Cedeno.

His friend, Spc. Michael Lind, said Cedeno Sanchez was tireless in training. “He never quit,” Lind said. “He charged hills like a billy goat.”

Capt. Craig Butera said Sanchez aspired to attend Ranger school when he got back from Iraq. “Had he had the chance, we all know he would have finished Ranger school and would have been a great example of all the character that is embodied in the Rangers,” Butera said.

He also is survived by his mother, Dinora Sanchez, and father, Ramon Jimenez Cedeno.