Army Sgt. Jaror C. Puello-Coronado

Died July 13, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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36, of Pocono Summit, Pa.; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 310th Military Police Battalion, in Uniondale, N.Y.; killed in a traffic accident July 13 at Camp Edson, Iraq. Puello-Coronado was manning a traffic point when the operator of a dump truck lost control of the vehicle and struck him.

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Sgt. Jaror C. Puello-Coronado died a hero, his widow said.

The military policeman was hit July 13 by a speeding, out-of-control dump truck after he pushed another soldier out of its path, Sandra Puello said. “He saved someone else’s life,” she said.

Puello-Coronado, 36, of Pocono Summit, Pa., was sent to Iraq in April. The couple and their three children moved to the Poconos from Jersey City, N.J., following the Sept. 11 attacks.

“We saw the World Trade Center burning from our bedroom window,” Sandra Puello said. “We decided it was time to get out of there.”

Puello-Coronado, who worked as a security officer for TSA, a private security company, was born in the Dominican Republic and moved with his family to Brooklyn, N.Y., as a young boy. He served in the Army, either on active duty or in the reserves, for more than half his life.

“He loved being a soldier,” said Ana Puello, his older sister. “The only consolation we have is that he died doing something he loved, something he enjoyed.”

— Associated Press