Army Sgt. Allen J. Dunckley

Died May 14, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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25, of Yardley, Pa.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.; killed May 14 in Salman Pak, Iraq, of wounds sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. Also killed was Army Sgt. Christopher N. Gonzalez.

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Bucks County soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

BENSALEM, Pa. — An aspiring minister who joined the Army shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks was killed by gunfire in Iraq.

Army Sgt. Allen James Dunckley, 25, of Yardley, was killed by gunfire in Salman Pak on Monday, according to the Department of Defense.

Dunckley’s wife, Jen, said the two had met as teenagers at a church youth group and that he had planned on becoming a minister before joining the service after Sept. 11.

After his first tour with the Marine Corps, she said, he decided to go back to Iraq for another tour with the Army. He planned to work with area youth as a minister and martial arts teacher after he got out of the Army, she said.

Dunckley’s body was returned to the United States on Thursday, and his wife said she hopes to have a military funeral next week.

“We were [married] almost five years, and every one of those years was the best years of my life,” she said.

Dunckley also leaves behind two children, a 3-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, who had been asking when he was coming home.

“When I told my son, he said, I love Daddy. I’m so proud of my Daddy,” Jen Dunckley said. “But my daughter has just been asking, Why? Why? Why?”