Army Staff Sgt. James L. Pettaway Jr.

Died October 3, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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37, of Baltimore; assigned to the 223rd Transportation Company, Army Reserve, Norristown, Pa.; died Oct. 3 at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, of injuries sustained Aug. 27 when he was involved in a motor vehicle accident in Fallujah, Iraq.

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Md. soldier injured in Iraq dies at U.S. military hospital

By Sarah Brumfield

Associated Press

BALTIMORE — When Staff Sgt. James L. Pettaway Jr. was called up for his second tour of duty in Iraq, his friend Carroll Washington said he had a bad feeling that Pettaway was tempting fate.

“But when duty calls, you have to go,” Washington said.

Pettaway always kept in touch with friends, so Washington, who worked with Pettaway at the Herman L. Toulson Correctional Boot Camp in Jessup, knew something was wrong when he didn’t hear from Pettaway for a month.

Pettaway died Sunday at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, according to the Department of Defense. He was injured in a motor vehicle crash on Aug. 27 in Fallujah, a release said.

Washington said he can’t help wondering whether he and his friends could have helped Pettaway hold on and recover had they known he was hospitalized.

The two men met in 1994 when they were both stationed at Fort Knox, Ky. When Pettaway, who grew up in New York, was unsure of what to do if he left the military, Washington encouraged him to move to the Baltimore area and work at the boot camp, where he holds the rank of sergeant.

Once at the camp, the non-commissioned officer had to go back to being a private, but Pettaway took the challenge in stride and always showed respect to his superiors, Washington said.

A color guard and other staff from the boot camp will take part in Pettaway’s funeral Saturday at the First Baptist Church in Bridgehampton, N.Y., said Maryland Division of Correction spokeswoman Priscilla Doggett.

“We are proud of him for the service he rendered to his division and to his country,” Doggett said.

Pettaway spent much of his free time visiting family, including his 11-year-old son Brandon, in Long Island. He believed family and friends always came first.

“Even in Iraq, he was still calling me, telling me ‘Keep your head up’ when I should be telling him that,” Washington said. “That tells you what type of person he was.”

Pettaway was a member of the Army Reserve’s 223rd Transportation Company, based in Norristown, Pa., said Maj. Greg Yesko, a spokesman for 99th Regional Readiness Command, which oversees the company. The company’s mission is to transport ammunition, water, fuel and general cargo.

“I tell my friends that we knew it was a war, but we never knew how serious it was until someone close to us died,” Washington said. “It finally hit home.”