Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class James R. Layton

Died September 8, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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22, of Riverbank, Calif.; assigned to an embedded training team with Combined Security Tranisiton Command in Afghanistan; died Sept. 8 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, while supporting combat operations.

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Training team corpsman killed in Afghanistan

By Andrew Scutro

Staff writer

A corpsman was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan while serving with an embedded training team.

Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class James Ray Layton, 22, of Riverbank, Calif., died in Kunar Province “while supporting combat operations,” according to a news release Thursday from the Defense Department.

At the time of his death Layton was assigned to Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan, which is responsible for training and equipping Afghan security forces.

Lt. Cmdr. John Daniels, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said Layton deployed to Afghanistan with an element of the Okinawa-based 3rd Marine Division.

Layton enlisted Dec. 20, 2007.

This spring, two Navy officers serving with the Combined Security Transition Command were killed by an Afghan national. Lt. Florence B. Choe and Lt. j.g. Francis L. Toner IV died March 27.

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Loved Japanese people, food, culture

The Associated Press

James Layton’s plan was to get an education in health care, see the world during eight years of military service, then become a radiology technician.

Before going to Afghanistan, he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and told his family he loved the people and food while he was there.

“He was a very caring person, so it didn’t surprise me that he was looking at the healing profession,” his grandmother Kathy Anderson said.

Layton, a 22-year-old Navy corpsman from Riverbank, Calif., was killed Sept. 8 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, while aiding a wounded U.S. Marine.

Layton enlisted in the Navy two years ago. One of his teachers at Vista High School in Escalon, Calif., recalled Layton saying several years ago that he was inspired by his grandfather’s naval service during the Korean War.

“I wouldn’t say he was a giant go-getter, but he recognized the need to do something with his life,” teacher Shane Bua said.

Layton earn his high school diploma in 2005.

He is survived by his grandmother; his mother, Nikki Freitas, and his father, Brent Layton; two younger brothers, Jonathan and Jesse; a stepsister, Andrea, and a stepbrother, Jason.