Elijah J. Rao
Profile
Age: 26
From: Lake Oswego, OR
Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
Incident: Army Sgt. Elijah J. Rao died Dec. 5 in Alin Gar district, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
Died: December 05, 2009
Joined Army after 9/11 attacks
The Associated Press
Elijah Rao, described by his grandmother as always “gentle, kind and loving,” carried a Bible with him everywhere he went.
“He had a heart of gold,” said grandmother Carrol Rao.
Rao, 26, died Dec. 5 in Nuristan, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his unit was hit by a bomb. He was a meteorological equipment repairman assigned to Fort Carson, Colo.
Rao was born in Forest Grove, Ore., and graduated from West Linn High School in 2001. He listed nearby Lake Oswego, Ore., as his hometown.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he enlisted in the Army. Rao completed two Iraq tours, and deployed to Afghanistan in June.
“I know he was doing what he wanted to do,” said his mother, Sharon Hauerken. “He would turn around and go back to Afghanistan if he had to.”
Rao is survived by his wife, Leah 1-year-old daughter, Eliana his father, Franklin...