Army Spc. Christopher K. Hill

Died March 11, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

---

26, of Ventura, Calif.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort Riley, Kan.; killed March 11 when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Fallujah, Iraq.

---

Soldier killed in Iraq buried near Charlotte

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A soldier who rejoined the Army after a three-year absence so that he would have a hand in the war against terrorism was buried in Pineville, N.C., leaving behind a wife and their 14-month-old daughter.

More than 200 people came to Independent Bible Baptist Church on March 18 to remember Spc. Christopher Kenneth Hill, 26, of Moorpark, Calif.

Many of the mourners spoke from a pulpit surrounded by flowers and photo collages showing Hill from childhood to fatherhood. They recalled Hill as an outgoing man whose love of country was surpassed only by his love of family.

“He was a father. He was a son. He was a brother and a great friend,” said Jeremy McCarver, the pastor who married Hill and his wife, Cheryl.

Hill was to have seen the couple’s daughter, Cierra, for the first time in nearly a year on March 21, when he was scheduled to start a two-week leave.

A remote-controlled bomb ended that dream last week. Hill, a member of the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division based at Fort Riley, Kan., was riding in the lead vehicle of a convoy rolling through Fallujah, Iraq, on March 11 when an explosion killed him and Staff Sgt. Joe Dunigan Jr., 37.

This was Hill’s second time in the Army. He served four years in Korea and Virginia before leaving active duty and moving to Charlotte in July 2002 to be with Cheryl Hill. They married two months later.

He re-enlisted in April because he missed the Army and couldn’t stand not being a part of the war, his wife has said.

“He couldn’t let her (Cierra) grow up in a world where she didn’t feel safe,” said Clint Nawara, who served with Hill during his first stint in the Army.

Hill was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. The medals were presented Thursday to his widow.

---

Fallen Charlotte soldier to be buried in North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Before he left for Iraq, Chris Hill told his wife that if the worst happened, he wanted to be buried in North Carolina so his daughter could visit him on Father’s Day.

Hill will be laid to rest March 11 in Charlotte.

His widow, Cheryl, said her joyful, energetic husband was hard to keep up with. He channeled his abundant energy into the Army, enlisting in the reserves after serving more than three years in the military overseas and in Virginia.

Cheryl Hill, 25, last spoke to her husband the day before he died.

The 26-year-old infantryman couldn’t contain his excitement about an upcoming two-week leave that would have allowed him to see his 14-month-old daughter, Cierra, for the first time in almost a year.

“I’ve not heard him as happy as he was since before he left,” she said, adding that Hill told her he was going on patrol the next morning.

He died hours after that phone call when a roadside bomb exploded in Fallujah, Iraq. He was riding in the first unit of a convoy when the roadside bombing occurred, his brother, Ryan Hill, said.

Hill was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort Riley, Kan.

Originally from California, he moved to Charlotte with his wife because of her family ties there.

Cheryl Hill said her husband was determined to go to Iraq last year, despite having exited the Army in July 2002.

“He just couldn’t stand the fact that this was going on and he wasn’t doing anything about it,” she said. “He wanted to help.”

Hill re-enlisted in April.

— Associated Press