Derek T. Roberts
Profile
Age: 24
From: Gold River, Calif.
Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Infantry Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii
Incident: Army Sgt. Derek T. Roberts died June 14 in Kirkuk, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Spc. Val J. Borm and Spc. Farid Elazzouzi.
Died: June 14, 2007
Pentagon: Three Hawaii-based soldiers killed in Iraq
The Associated Press
HONOLULU — Three Hawaii-based soldiers died in Iraq last week when a bomb exploded near their vehicle, the Pentagon said June 20.
The death of one of the soldiers — Spc. Val John Borm, 21, of Sidney, Neb. — had been reported earlier by his family.
Sgt. Derek Roberts, 24, of Gold River, Calif., and Spc. Farid Elazzouzi of Paterson, N.J., were also killed. The three died last June 14 in Kirkuk.
Based at Schofield Barracks, the soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Infantry Combat Team, of the 25th Infantry Division.
Roberts met his fiance, Judi Arel, in Hawaii. They were to marry later this year.
“People know that he was extremely loving and compassionate and very self-giving,” Arel told Honolulu television station KITV on Wednesday in a telephone interview...