2,275th to die, Feb. 18, 2006—Army Sgt. Charles E. Matheny IV, 23, of Arlington, was killed near Baghdad when an explosive was detonated outside his vehicle. A 2000 graduate of Arlington High School, he enlisted the following year, went to Iraq, was injured, spent time recovering, re-enlisted, and returned to Iraq in late 2005. His family recalled he took risks others wouldn't take. Unmarried, Matheny volunteered for convoy missions into the slums of Baghdad, sitting in place of fellow soldiers who were married and had children. "I think he decided he was in a stage in his life," said his father, Charles, "where he had to rise to the occasion and be the man." Matheny came from a military family—his father, mother, grandfathers, and one great-grandfather all served. A mechanic in the 704th Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, his passion was cars and, while growing up, war movies. His mother, Debbie Noble, recalled him saying during a recent visit, "I'm living every boy's dream. I get to play on tanks." His service years were the happiest he'd known, she said. "He was a fulfilled, happy man." He died three weeks short of his 24th birthday.
2,252nd to die: Feb. 4, 2006—Army Spc. Roberto L. Martinez Salazar, 21, a Fort Lewis soldier from Long Beach, Calif., was killed while on patrol in Mosul, Iraq, after an improvised explosive was detonated near the combat engineer's Humvee. He entered the Army in March 2003 and was stationed at Fort Lewis with the 555th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. Capt. Regan Campbell remembered Salazar for the look in his eyes: "always focused and powerful. He always seemed to be looking into my soul. I always felt secure with him as a gunner because I knew he would give 'em hell if he needed to." Salazar was born in Mexico City and moved to California with his family at a young age. He and his sister were raised by an aunt in Southern California. "He was a very important part of my life," said his cousin, Adrian Mendoza. Salazar, a graduate of Millikan High in Long Beach, helped Mendoza train for the wrestling team, of which Salazar had been a member. Despite his residency and military service, he had not obtained U.S. citizenship. But it has now been granted posthumously, the family said.
2,194th to die: Jan. 7, 2006—Army National Guard Lt. Jaime L. Campbell, 25, of Ephrata, Grant County, was killed along with 11 others when a UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting crashed while supporting troop movements near Tel Afar, Iraq. A onetime Washington State Rodeo Queen, Campbell graduated from Ephrata High School in 1998. She had been student body president. Her husband, Army Capt. Sam Campbell, was also in Iraq; both had earlier been stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Her mother, Miki Krausse, said Campbell, one of three daughters, had been a talented artist and expert horsewoman. She earned rodeo queen honors for her horse-handling skills while still in high school. "When she decided to do something, it had to be her best," said Krausse. "She was as beautiful inside as she was outside." Campbell spent her early years growing up in Grays Harbor County, where she has relatives. "She was just one of those kids that every parent dreams of," said aunt Elsie Chiles of Elma. "She just had so much goodness and love in her heart. She had so much more to give."
2,180th to die: Jan. 1, 2006—Army Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Van Der Horn, 37, born in Tacoma and raised in Bellevue, became the first U.S. service member killed in Iraq in 2006 when a bomb exploded near the Humvee in which he was riding outside Baghdad. Assigned to the Army's 101st Airborne Division, "He was a soldier at heart," said his adopted mother, Nancy Van Der Horn, of Beaux Arts Village near Bellevue. Father Bob Van Der Horn described his son as "talkative, opinionated, and caring—kind of a hard head with a very soft heart." A onetime Chinook Junior High and Bellevue High student, he joined the Army at age 20 and served seven years in Hawaii and Italy. He also saw combat in Bosnia and Sierra Leone. After a long break as a civilian, working in part as a law enforcement officer, he re-enlisted in 2004. In a report aired on National Public Radio following Van Der Horn's burial, his parents recalled how he lost 40 pounds in four months to make re-enlistment weight. Nancy Van Der Horn said her son was born on Flag Day, "so we always flew a flag on his birthday." Added widow Teresa Van Der Horn, mother of their two children: "I knew that this was what he wanted to do. It's what he believed in, so I supported him."
