Army Pfc. Raymond N. Pacleb

Died March 29, 2010 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

---

31, of Honolulu, Hawaii; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery Regiment, Hawaii National Guard, Wahiawa, Hawaii; died March 29 in Baghdad of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.

---

Hawaii guardsman dies in Iraq

Honolulu Advertiser

A Hawaii Army National Guard soldier from Pearl City has died in a non-combat incident in Iraq.

Pfc. Raymond Pacleb, 31, died Monday in Baghdad, the U.S. and Hawaii Defense Departments said.

Pacleb, a 1996 graduate of Pearl City High who worked at Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery, 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

The state said Pacleb volunteered to deploy with the Virginia Army National Guard’s 229th Military Police Company as a Unit Supply Specialist.

The circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation.

The Pacleb family released a statement asking for a private period of mourning.

“Raymond will be missed very much and the Pacleb family knows he is in a better place,” the statement said. “We are very proud of our son’s service to his country and look up to him as a hero.”

Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, Hawaii’s Adjutant General, called Pacleb’s death “heartbreaking.”

“We know his tragic passing is a very solemn and sobering event for his entire family,” Lee said in a statement. “The members of the Hawaii National Guard grieve along with his family during this difficult time.”

---

Fallen guardsman joined service to better himself

The Associated Press

Raymond N. Pacleb’s family said they will always remember him as independent, generous and loving.

The 31-year-old soldier from Honolulu, who was injured in a non-combat related incident, died March 29 in Baghdad, according to the Defense Department.

He was assigned to Wahiawa, Hawaii, and volunteered to deploy in October with the Virginia Army National Guard.

“The passing of Private First Class Pacleb is heartbreaking. We know his tragic passing is a very solemn and sobering event for his entire family. The members of the Hawaii National Guard grieve along with his family during this difficult time,” Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, Hawaii state adjutant general, said in a statement.

Army officials have said Pacleb’s death is being investigated.

His family said in a statement that he joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2009 better himself.

“We are very proud of [our] son’s service to his country and look up to him as a hero,” his family said. Little information about Pacleb was available, and his family asked for privacy as they mourned his death.

He graduated from Pearl City High School in 1996.

“He exemplified the brave and patriotic citizen-soldiers serving America in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Lee said.