Army Spc. Paul E. Andersen
On paper, Paul E. Andersen was a devoted military man who spent about 25 years with the Army Reserve. At heart, he was a kid.
The 49-year-old from Dowagiac, Mich., enjoyed slurping strawberry milkshakes, tinkering with machines and putting up lots of lights at Christmas. To deliver his riding lawn mower to his stepdaughter's home, he once drove it along the road and fooled police by pretending to mow the roadside.
"He was pleased and proud as can be, especially because he got away with it," said his wife, Linda.
She first bumped into Andersen at a friend's home in 2004, after his first tour in Iraq.
AP photo - This photo provided by the New Mexico National Guard shows Spc. Joseph Gallegos. Gallegos, 39, a New Mexico National Guard soldier from Questa, N.M. who died Oct. 28, 2009 in Tallil, Iraq from cardiac arrest unrelated to combat. A rosary for Gallegos will be held on Friday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. at Questa High School and funeral services will be held Nov. 7 at the school. .Gallegos was a light-wheel vehicle mechanic with the 720th Transportation Company out of Las Vegas, N.M.
AP Photo - An Army carry team carries the transfer case containing the remains of Army Pfc. Lukas C. Hopper, 20, of Merced, Calif., upon his arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Monday, Nov. 2, 2009. According to the Department of Defense, Hopper died Oct. 30, 2009, southeast of Karadah, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
"I backed up and stepped on his foot, and I just asked him what the hell he was doing and please get out of the way," she said. "He just stood there." They married four months later.
In August, he got leave to return to South Bend, Ind., where he was based, for their fifth anniversary. He died weeks later in Baghdad, on Oct. 1, when a camp was attacked with indirect fire.
"I hope he can rest now," his wife said. "He's served our country very well."
Andersen also is survived by six children and stepchildren.
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Army Maj. David L. Audo
Long before David L. Audo became a father of two youngsters who had spent his share of assignments overseas, he was a seemingly model student at St. Joseph-Ogden High School in his hometown of St. Joseph, Illinois.
He took advanced classes like honors biology and was quite a motivated student, coach and teacher Jim Acklin said.
"His sense of humor sticks out, and he was ornery in a good way," Acklin said, adding that Audo also ran dashes and relays as a sprinter on the track team and was in the drama club.
He was commissioned as an officer in 1997, first assigned with the military police in Germany and later deployed twice to Kosovo, then to Iraq and to Afghanistan in 2005. Meanwhile, he earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Illinois and a master's in business from Webster University in 2002. He also was a Bronze Star recipient.
The 35-year-old was again deployed this year to Iraq, where he died Oct. 27 in Baghdad of injuries from a noncombat incident under investigation. He was assigned to Fort Lewis, Wash.
His survivors included his wife, Rebecca, and their children, Austin and Ashley.
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Army Spc. Adrian L. Avila
Adrian Avila found ways to keep busy in the desert of Kuwait, but was perhaps best known for hunting scorpions.
"My husband Chris and Avila had just been hunting scorpions the night before this terrible tragedy," April Holderfield, who along with her husband served with Avila, wrote in an online message board.
James Owens, who wrote on the message board that he was Avila's roommate, said "it's not been the same without him coming in here every day all excited about some car he had seen online, or some scorpion he found out in the desert, or telling me about some gun he had seen."
"He was a great kid who was always happy and he will be missed very much."
Avila, 19, of Opelika, Ala., died Oct. 29 at Khabari Crossing, Kuwait, after a noncombat incident. The Alabama Army National Guardsman was assigned to Fort Payne.
His mother, Donna Lawson, said her son joined to serve his country and make something of himself.
"He always cared more for others than he did for himself," she said. "He had a hard life, but he wasn't going to let anyone bring him down."
Avila is also survived by his father, Ruben Avila.
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Army Staff Sgt. Bradley Espinoza
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