Army Staff Sgt. Sean D. Diamond

Died February 15, 2009 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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41, of Dublin, Calif.; assigned to the 610th Engineer Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died Feb. 15 in Salam, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

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Fort Lewis sergeant killed in Iraq is identified

The Associated Press

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — A 41-year-old Army sergeant from Fort Lewis has been killed in Iraq, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Sean D. Diamond, of Dublin, Calif., died Sunday in As Salam when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 610th Engineer Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Fort Lewis.

A Fort Lewis news release said Diamond entered military service on Sept. 2, 1987. After a short break in service, he rejoined the Army on May 24, 2000. He arrived at Fort Lewis in August 2006 and most recently deployed with his unit to Iraq last March.

He was a heavy construction equipment operator.

Diamond's mother, Sally Wiley, told the Contra Costa, Calif., Times newspaper that Diamond was on his third tour in Iraq and was expected to return home next month for a break.

Wiley said her son volunteered to go to Iraq when the war started although he hated being away from his family, including his wife, Loramay, and their four children, ages five to 13.

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Staff sergeant made ‘huge and lasting impact’ while serving

The Associated Press

Sean D. Diamond joined the Army as an infantryman in September 1987 and later served in the Reserve. He returned to active duty after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and became a heavy equipment operator. He was stationed in Germany when the Iraq war started and re-upped.

“When I saw him before he left last year I thought, ‘Aren’t you a little old to be going there?’ But he had a lot of young guys that had never been there. He didn’t want to turn them loose over there,” said his mother, Sally Wiley.

Diamond, 41, of Dublin, Calif., died Feb. 15 in As Salam when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to Fort Lewis.

“You won’t see a picture his whole life he wasn’t smiling,” his mother said.

Diamond participated in more than 100 combat patrols with his company and worked on more than 25 construction projects.

“He made a huge and lasting effect on the future of Iraq,” said battalion commander Lt. Col. Pete Helmlinger. “This is truly a better place because of his service.”

He is survived by his wife, Loramay, and their four children, ages five to 13.