Army Sgt. Travis A. Moothart

Died January 27, 2004 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

23, of Brownsville, Ore.; assigned to Company B, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (Mech), Fort Riley, Kan.; killed Jan. 27 in an improvised explosive device attack in Khalidiyah, Iraq.

Travis A. Moothart’s older brother had served in Bosnia and Kosovo, and when the younger Moothart wanted to join the Army, his family resisted. Their fears increased when he was deployed to Iraq.

“I think I prepared myself when he went over there,” said his mother, Sue Moothart, of Brownsville, Ore. “I knew his life was in danger every single day.”

Sgt. Moothart, 23, died Jan. 27 when an improvised explosive device detonated west of Baghdad. Moothart enlisted in April 2000, and was sent to Iraq in September from Fort Riley, Kan. He also had done of tour of duty in Korea. Survivors also include his father, Dennis.

— Associated Press