Army Spc. Mark Anthony Zapata

Died August 15, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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27, of Edinburg, Texas; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed Aug. 15 by hostile fire in Najaf, Iraq.

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Fort Hood soldier killed in Iraq

By Lynn Brezosky

Associated Press

EDINBURG, Texas — A soldier from Fort Hood has been killed in Iraq, relatives and military officials said Monday.

Spc. Mark Zapata, 27, died Sunday morning when his tank came under fire in Najaf, his family told The Associated Press on Monday from their Edinburg home.

Zapata graduated from Edinburg North High School and had been in the military for seven years, said his brother, Michael Zapata.

He was the third soldier from this Mexican border city to be killed since the war began last year, and the ninth from the Rio Grande Valley.

Mark Zapata was with Fort Hood’s 1st Calvary Division and went to Iraq in January. He returned to Edinburg for three weeks last month before being sent back. He spent his time visiting friends and family in Texas and northern Mexico and attending the funeral of a relative who died while he was home.

Michael Zapata said his brother was proud of his mission but didn’t want to return.

“He said it was hell, the fighting. He couldn’t sleep. It was difficult,” Michael Zapata said. “His last day he just wanted to be here, he didn’t want to go. My brother died giving life to everybody.”

His last call to his mother was from Dallas, when he told her he’d be out in the field and out of phone or Internet contact for the next month.

Zapata was single, but loved children and was a volunteer firefighter and paramedic at home, said his cousin, 29-year-old Dennis Garcia.

Iraqi children had given the soldier coins and other trinkets to bring home for his mother, and in return he took Iraqi children candy from just over the border in Mexico.

Zapata’s tour was scheduled to end in October, after which he planned to join the military police and attend college.

A stream of relatives and friends gathered at the family home, which was adorned with ribbons and a sign reading “Our hearts are with our troops.” They said they had few other details on Zapata’s death, which they were informed of Sunday afternoon.

Also killed Sunday was Pfc. Brandon Sapp, 21. The Lake Worth, Fla., soldier died when his M2 Bradley fighting vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Najaf, Iraq, the Department of Defense said.

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Soldier killed in Iraq laid to rest

EDINBURG, Texas — Hundreds of people attended funeral services Wednesday for Spc. Mark Zapata, who died Aug. 15 when his M-1 tank came under fire in the southern Shiite Muslim city of Najaf, Iraq.

Zapata, 27, was the third soldier from this Mexican border city to be killed since the war began March 20, 2003, the ninth from the Valley.

The 1995 graduate of Edinburg North High School served with the Edinburg Volunteer Fire Department before his 2000 enlistment. He also volunteered at two Edinburg elementary schools.

“I’ve never known Mark not to smile,” recalled paramedic Janelle Billings, who worked with Zapata in 1998. “It was always somebody else, not him, that came first.”

During the funeral, Zapata was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star for his service from July 29 to Aug. 15, as well as a Purple Heart.

He received a traditional firefighter’s burial, which included a funeral procession led by a fire truck.

“Our brother has answered his last call of duty,” Edinburg Fire Chief Shawn Snider said in a story for Thursday’s editions of The (McAllen) Monitor.

Zapata grew up on different military bases during his father, Daniel’s, 30-year Army career. He was an armor crewman for the M-1 tank, assigned to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Calvary Division based at Fort Hood, Texas.

— Associated Press