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- The People Behind The Sacrifice
Army Sgt. Arnold Duplantier II
Died June 22, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom
26, of Sacramento, Calif.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, California Army National Guard, Auburn, Calif.; killed June 22 by enemy small-arms fire while providing cordon security in Baghdad.
Calif. National Guardsman killed in Baghdad
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO — Arnold Duplantier II had just celebrated his 26th birthday and returned to Iraq when he was killed while guarding the hotel where members of the international media stay, the California National Guard said Friday.
Duplantier was killed by small-arms fire Wednesday afternoon while guarding the outside of the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad, Guard spokesman Tech. Sgt. Andrew Hughan said. He was the only casualty.
He is the 12th California Guardsman killed in Iraq and the first from Sacramento.
“Every indication is he’s just a good soldier. He volunteered to go” to Iraq, Hughan said.
Duplantier had been a full-time Guardsman, providing security at the Guard’s Sacramento headquarters before he volunteered, Hughan said. A casualty report released Friday said he was recently promoted to sergeant.
He served six months of a yearlong deployment before returning to Sacramento recently for a two-week leave. He returned to Iraq 10 days ago for his second six-month stint after a shopping trip to buy presents to hand to Iraqi children, his widow said. He also is survived by a 5-year-old daughter.
Tanya Duplantier, 25, last talked to her husband hours before he died.
“He said he couldn’t wait to get home and that he had to be strong,” she told The Sacramento Bee while wrapped in one of her husband’s camouflage jackets, sitting before a wall still bearing a “Happy Birthday” sign.
Arnold Duplantier, 44, raised his son alone from the age of 12 and said his son found structure in the military.
“He already had this sense of what he’s got to do in life,” he said while holding a watch with “United we stand” highlighted against an American flag, a gift from his son.