Army Staff Sgt. David H. Gutierrez

Died December 25, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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35, of San Francisco; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died Dec. 25 at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his dismounted patrol with an improvised explosive device in Howz-e Madad.

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Soldier died in Christmas Day ambush

The Associated Press

David Gutierrez tried to visit his wife, Patty, and three sons via webcam daily while in Afghanistan.

The last time the family connected online was Christmas Eve. The next day, Patty Gutierrez and her sons were eating Christmas breakfast when she learned her husband had been killed. Two Army chaplains knocked on her door.

“I woke up Christmas morning,” she said. “But when the knock came it wasn’t Christmas anymore.”

Gutierrez, 35, died Christmas Day at Kandahar Air Field of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his patrol with a bomb in Howz-e Madad. He was assigned to Fort Lewis, Wash.

Gutierrez graduated from Santa Teresa High School in San Jose, Calif., and attended San Jose City College. He met his wife while working as a bouncer at a club in San Jose. He enlisted in 1998, two years after he married his wife.

Gutierrez served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, and he was deployed to Afghanistan in July 2009.

“He had his life in the uniform,” Patty Gutierrez said. “But when he came home, he was the patient one, my go-to guy.”

Gutierrez is survived by his wife; and sons Gabriel, 4, Jeremiah, 6, and Andrew, 12.