Army Sgt. Stephen P. Saxton

Died May 3, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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24, of Temecula, Calif.; assigned to the Army’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.; killed May 3 when his unit was conducting a route security mission and an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad.

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Fort Carson-based soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

FORT CARSON, Colo. — A soldier with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment died when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.

Sgt. Stephen P. Saxton, 24, of Temecula, Calif., died in Baghdad on Tuesday, the Defense Department said Thursday. He was on a route security mission.

Saxton, a father of three young children, was serving his second yearlong tour in Iraq. He is the fourth soldier to die since units from Fort Carson were redeployed in March.

“Anything he decided to do, he always gave it his best,” Saxton’s mother, Deborah Saxton, told the Gazette of Colorado Springs by telephone from her home in California.

She said Saxton was looking forward to taking a leave later this month to visit his newest child, Sierra Rose, who was born three weeks ago at the military post outside Colorado Springs.

Saxton’s wife, Maegen, and other children, Joseph Thomas, 2, and Katelynn Elizabeth, 4, live in Colorado Springs.

Deborah Saxton said her son had a gift for lifting the spirits of those around him. “He just always looked for the bright side of things.” she said.

Saxton was the 51st soldier from Fort Carson to die in Iraq since the war started in March 2003.

An additional 55 soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team have died. The unit, which deployed from South Korea last August, will be based at Fort Carson when it returns from Iraq this summer.