Army Pfc. Armando Soriano

Died February 1, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Houston; assigned to the howitzer battery, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.; attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed while traveling in a two-vehicle convoy on a supply route Feb. 1 when weather conditions caused his vehicle to slide off the road and roll over in Haditha, Iraq.

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Armando Soriano had worked ever since he was 12 or 13, trying to help his parents by earning money at restaurants or construction sites or by doing odd jobs. Soon the Army seemed a good fit. "The main reason he took off to the Army was that he wanted to help out his parents and to try and be somebody and learn," said Soriano's lifelong friend, Alex Castellano. "He would think about everybody else before he thought about himself." Pfc. Soriano, 20, of Houston, died Feb. 1 when his vehicle slid off a road in Haditha, Iraq, and rolled over during bad weather. Soriano joined the Army two months after graduating from high school in 2002. He signed up over the strong objections of his mother, who feared for the oldest of their five children. The strong-willed Soriano told his parents he was 18 and it was his decision to make. His mother's objections changed once she began receiving letters and photos of him in basic training. "I was real proud of him," Clotilde Soriano said. "He was being somebody."

— Associated Press