
PENNSAUKEN, N.J. — An Army nurse based in Aberdeen, Md., who died in Iraq this week had roots in southern New Jersey, officials said.
Capt. Maria I. Ortiz, 40, was killed Tuesday by enemy mortar fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said.
Army officials identified Ortiz’s hometown as Bayamon, Puerto Rico. But a military spokesman said the nurse’s mother, who was not named, lives in Pennsauken.
Ortiz reportedly was born in Pennsauken, but it was not clear how long she lived in this area.
She was assigned to the Kirk U.S. Army Health Clinic at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
“She was very popular and very highly thought of,” said George Mercer, a spokesman at the Maryland base. “It’s just a terrible loss.”
Ortiz was the 79th service...