Ralph J. Harting III
Profile
Age: 28
From: Union Lake, Mich.
Assigned to 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Irwin, Calif.
Incident: Army Capt. Ralph J. Harting III was killed April 29 when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated as he was conducting a traffic-control-point inspection in Diyarah, Iraq. Also
Died: April 29, 2005
Michigan natives die in Iraq suicide bombing
Associated Press
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — Two Army officers raised in Michigan were killed in a suicide bombing in Diyarah, Iraq, their families said.
Capt. Ralph J. Harting III, 28, and Capt. Stephen Frank, 29, died Friday while inspecting a truck at a checkpoint 30 miles south of Baghdad, their families said. The driver detonated a bomb, killing himself and the two officers.
They were among at least 50 people, including one other U.S. soldier, to die that day in bombings carried out by insurgents aiming to shake Iraq’s newly formed government.
As of Monday, at least 1,581 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. Harting and Frank were the 48th and 49th soldiers with known Michigan ties to die.
Harting, nicknamed Jay, was born in Pontiac and raised in Union Lake. He applied...