Army Pfc. Jeffrey A. Avery

Died April 23, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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19, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; assigned to the 571st Military Police Company, 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died April 23 in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, from wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated during checkpoint operations.

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Fort Lewis military police soldier killed in Iraq bombing

The Associated Press

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — A 19-year-old military policeman serving his first tour in Iraq has been killed in an explosion at a security checkpoint, the Army said April 24.

Pfc. Jeffrey A. Avery died April 23 in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, from wounds suffered when a bomb exploded during checkpoint operations, the Department of Defense said in a news release.

Avery was assigned to the 571st Military Police Company, 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, at Fort Lewis. He arrived in Muqdadiyah last December.

The soldier is the second from his company to die in Iraq. Spc. Anthony A. Kaiser, 27, of Narrowsburg, N.Y., died March 17 of wounds from small-arms fire after his unit encountered enemy forces.

Avery, of Colorado Springs, Colo., joined the Army in December 2005, and completed military police training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, Fort Lewis spokeswoman Erin Benson said April 24. He arrived at Fort Lewis in May 2006.

Avery is the 99th soldier stationed at the post south of Tacoma to die since the war began in Iraq in March 2003, and the third to die in Iraq in the past week, Benson said.

On April 23, the Defense Department announced that two Stryker brigade soldiers with Fort Lewis’ 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, were killed April 18.

Cpl. Wade J. Oglesby, 27, of Grand Junction, Colo., and Cpl. Michael M. Rojas, 21, of Fresno, Calif., died in Taji when a bomb detonated near their vehicle.

A memorial ceremony was held for Oglesby and Rojas on April 24 at Fort Lewis.