Army Staff Sgt. Thomas M. McFall

Died May 28, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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36, of Glendora, Calif.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.; died May 28 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position during a dismounted patrol. Also killed was Pfc. Junior Cedeno Sanchez.

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3 Fort Lewis soldiers die in Iraq

The Associated Press

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Three Fort Lewis soldiers were killed in Iraq as the number of casualties from the post climbed to 19 for the month of May, the deadliest month for the post since the war began.

The soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in the past week, the Department of Defense said in news releases May 30.

Staff Sgt. Thomas M. McFall, 36, of Glendora, Calif., and Cpl. Junior Cedeno Sanchez, 20, of Miami, died May 28 when an explosive detonated nearby during a dismounted patrol in Baghdad. Both were assigned to 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, one of two Fort Lewis Stryker brigades serving in Iraq.

On May 26, Pfc. Charles B. Hester, 23, of Cataldo, Idaho, died in Baghdad when his vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb. Hester was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis’ other Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which has been in Iraq since June.

Hester had been in the Army since May 2004. He arrived at Fort Lewis in September 2004, where he was assigned to the 3rd Brigade.

McFall joined the Army in October 1994 and served a year in Korea beginning February 1997. He then reported to Fort Lewis to serve with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.

In April 2001, McFall was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and deployed to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, from April 2004 through March 2005. He returned to Fort Lewis that September and had served since January with the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment.

Sanchez joined the Army in November 2005 and reported to Fort Lewis last June for assignment to the 4th Brigade’s 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry. The unit left for Iraq last month. He was posthumously promoted from the rank of private first class.

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San Bernardino Army sergeant killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Despite having a back injury, Army Staff Sgt. Thomas McFall felt it was his duty to accompany the troops he trained to Iraq this year.

McFall, 36, of San Bernardino, was killed by a roadside bomb May 28 while on foot patrol in Baghdad. He had been stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., where he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment.

“He could have gotten out of it if he’d tried really hard. But they were his soldiers, they were his guys,” said his wife, Emily Herron McFall. “He’d trained them up and he couldn’t leave them hanging.”

Born in Pomona, McFall had been fascinated with the military since childhood, playing with toy soldiers and driving to the desert with his father to fire guns.

Most of his life was devoted to the military. He enlisted at 23, and met his second wife, Emily, when both were stationed at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina in 1997. During Christmas and Thanksgiving, he opened his house to soldiers who couldn’t make it home to their own families.

He had intended to serve a full career in the military and talked with his wife about what would happened if he was killed in action.

“We talked about the funeral, where he would want to be buried. He wanted bagpipes,” she said. “That was his only request.”

McFall was recently laid to rest with a Guinness beer stein and a Big Dog barbecue shirt in the Riverside National Cemetery, where his grandmother and great-aunt are buried

He is survived by his wife; children Austin, Elizabeth and Matthew; mother April Lemesh and stepfather Chuck Lemesh; and father Thomas McFall and stepmother Sherry McFall. He is also survived by siblings Kathleen Parker, Darrell Lemesh, Darrin Lemesh, Tanya Landeros, James Misenheimer and Kerri Misenheimer; and nine nieces and nephews.