Army Pfc. Jerome J. Potter

Died May 3, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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24, of Tacoma, Wash.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 3 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

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Thurston County soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. — A 24-year-old soldier who grew up in Thurston County has died in a roadside bomb blast in Iraq, his mother said.

Holly Burson said casualty notification officers told her that her son, Pfc. Jerome Potter, was killed May 3 while on patrol in Baghdad with his unit, the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

Potter was based at Fort Hood, Texas, and went to Iraq in October.

The Department of Defense had not announced Potter’s death as of May 5.

Potter’s family said he grew up in Yelm and Olympia, attending Yelm High School before joining the Job Corps, where he got his GED.

He worked as a forestry firefighter for a couple of years and had aspired to use his GI Bill money to become a park ranger when he finished his enlistment.

Burson said the last time she spoke to her son, about four weeks ago, he told her things were getting tough in Baghdad. He said his unit was getting pushed into new areas.

“He said it was getting pretty brutal, and that he didn’t think he was coming home,” Burson told The News Tribune of Tacoma. “I told him, ‘You’re coming home, you’re coming home. Don’t talk like that.’ ”