Army Spc. Doonewey White

Died May 29, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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26, of Milpitas, Calif.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 29 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations.

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Soldier from Milpitas dies in Iraq

The Associated Press

MILPITAS, Calif. — A 26-year-old soldier from Milpitas died last week in Iraq when an improvised explosive device exploded near his vehicle.

Army Spc. Doonewey White died May 29 in Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad, from wounds suffered the previous day, the Pentagon said in a statement June 4.

White’s family members said it was always his goal to serve in the Army.

“He was really happy to be in the army. He was proud of it,” his aunt, Maria White of Pittsburg, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

His half brother, Jason Gillette, 23, of Oceanside, said a military official told the family that his brother was on patrol when his Humvee was rammed by a suicide bomber driving a vehicle packed with explosives. He suffered third-degree burns to his face, neck and chest, Gillette told the Chronicle.

White emigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when he was a young boy and was raised at times by his mother and different aunts in Pittsburg and Milpitas, Maria White said.

White was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, in Fort Hood, Texas.