Michael Battles Sr
Profile
Age: 38
From: San Antonio
Assigned to 1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas
Incident: Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Battles Sr. was killed Oct. 28 when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his checkpoint in Baghdad.
Died: October 28, 2004
Family grieves for soldier killed in Iraq
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — The wife of a soldier serving in Iraq could hear gunfire in the background when her husband telephoned her last week from Iraq.
But Sgt. 1st Class Michael Battles Sr. assured his wife, Luz, that everything was fine and he just wanted to talk a little longer.
The soldier, who had telephoned Fort Hood to tell his wife he had just mailed a birthday present to their son Michael, did not call again the next morning.
Luz Battles kept waiting for the 9 a.m. call that never came and realized something was wrong.
When military officials arrived at her home early the next day, she knew that Battles was dead.
The Department of Defense said Battles, 38, was killed Oct. 28 when a bomb was hurled at his vehicle by a passing motorcycle rider near his Baghdad checkpoint. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery Regiment, 1st...