Army Pvt. Michael J. Slater

Died April 21, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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19, of Scott Depot, W.Va.; assigned to the 407th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died April 21 in Taji, Iraq, of wounds sustained when his vehicle rolled over during combat operations.

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Soldier from W.Va. killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — A soldier from West Virginia has been killed fighting in Iraq.

Pvt. Michael J. Slater, 19, of Scott Depot, W.Va., died after his vehicle rolled over during combat April 21 in the town of Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad, the Department of Defense said April 23.

The Defense Department said Slater was assigned to the 407th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg.

Slater, a 2005 graduate of Winfield (W.Va.) High School, was a heavy vehicle driver who joined the Army in July. His dream was to join the Army, Winfield High Principal Bill Hughes said.

“He always wanted to be in the Army,” Hughes told The Charleston Gazette. “From the ninth grade, he wanted to be in the Army. So it’s kind of a sad irony ... that he accomplished his dream and it cost him his life.”

Slater’s father Chuck is Winfield’s softball coach.

“You see the news at night,” Hughes said. “It really doesn’t mean much to a high school kid because it’s just a number on a TV screen. But all of a sudden, when it’s a face and it’s someone who’s walked the halls, it hits home. It’s reality.”