Army Pfc. Charles B. Hester

Died May 26, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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23, of Cataldo, Idaho; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.; died May 26 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when the vehicle he was in struck an improvised explosive device.

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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 Department of Defense 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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Soldier killed in Iraq loved his family, music

The Associated Press

Army Pfc. Charles B. Hester was crying so hard in the delivery room when his daughter Elizabeth was born, he couldn’t see to cut the umbilical cord.

“She had her daddy wrapped around her little finger,” Lt. Col. Chris Cieply said. “He wanted to come home and have more babies and wanted them all to be girls.”

Hester, 23, of Cataldo, Idaho, died May 26 when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad. He was assigned to Fort Lewis, Wash., and also is survived by his wife, Roxanne Slate.

Cpl. Tim Tate said Hester had become proficient driving the eight-wheeled, all-wheel drive combat vehicles. “Not everybody can get up into a huge vehicle like that and be good,” he said.

Hester was an avid guitar player and once made the pilgrimage to Jimi Hendrix’s grave, where he buried a guitar pick.

“Hester loved the oldies,” recalled his former squad leader, Staff Sgt. Chess Johnson. “I could never come up with a song that he couldn’t come up with the lyrics, perfectly.”

And when the boys in the back of the Stryker mangled a tune, “he was never shy about correcting us. His voice would come over the squawk box and tell us how to sing the song.”