Army Sgt. Daniel Torres

Died February 4, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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23, of Fort Worth, Texas; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.; killed Feb. 4 when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle in Bayji, Iraq. Also killed was Army Staff Sgt. Steven G. Bayow.

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Soldier killed in Iraq after learning he was going to be a dad

Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas — Just a week after finding out that he would become a father, Army Sgt. Daniel Torres of Fort Worth was killed in Iraq when a roadside bomb hit his vehicle.

“He said he would pray for me and the baby every night,” said his girlfriend, Sofia Maldonado, who is five weeks pregnant. “I knew that he was going to be with me forever.”

Army officials told Torres’ family that the 23-year-old Southwest High School graduate died Friday near Baji, about 140 miles north of Baghdad.

Another North Texas soldier, Army Spc. Jeremy O. Allmon, 22, of Cleburne died Sunday when a homemade bomb detonated near his vehicle in Taji, just north of Baghdad.

In Fort Worth on Saturday, Sergio Torres was preparing to leave for his daughter’s softball game when two soldiers arrived to tell him that his son had been killed.

“The last time we saw him, he told us not to worry if the Army came to his house to tell us he had died,” the elder Torres said Tuesday. “He had a hunch it would happen. When he came to visit us in December, he told us he didn’t know if he would return.”

Torres said that his son wanted to use the money he made in the Army to help pay for college, where he planned to study marketing and international business.

Just last month, Torres and Maldonado talked about their future. They weren’t engaged, but they spoke frequently of marrying and starting a family when he returned to Fort Worth after the completion of his tour of Iraq.

Maldonado, an 18-year-old graduate of Southwest High, said she’s coping with the fact that her baby will never know his or her father.

Rick Saldivar, Torres’ uncle, said his nephew was ecstatic about impending fatherhood.

“He was thrilled. He was so happy,” Saldivar said. “He asked all the family members to help her with anything she needed.”

Preston Ray, Allmon’s stepfather, said the Cleburne native was looking for a calling beyond that of an ordinary job when he joined the military. He also wanted to do something that would make his family proud.

“He said that he wanted to do something more,” Ray said.

Allmon spoke often about returning home this summer, when his enlistment ending, and going to college. Ray said his stepson was a fan of the outdoors and wanted to become a game warden.