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Two Fort Carson soldiers die in Baghdad bomb blast

Eight members of pair's unit killed since December

By Tom Roeder and Jennifer Wilson , The Gazette

Published March 20, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Simpson

Simpson

Elledge, 41, and Simpson, 23, were on an operation to find and clear insurgent bombs from a road in northeast Baghdad.

Elledge, 41, and Simpson, 23, were on an operation to find and clear insurgent bombs from a road in northeast Baghdad.

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Two Fort Carson soldiers died when a bomb detonated near their Humvee in Baghdad, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Michael D. Elledge, 41, of Brownsburg, Ind., and Cpl. Christopher C. Simpson, 23, of Hampton, Va., died Monday during an operation to locate and clear insurgent bombs from a road in northeast Baghdad.

Their unit, 1st Battalion, 68th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, is working to police neighborhoods near Sadr City.

Their deaths bring the number of Fort Carson soldiers killed in Iraq to 235, including eight members of the brigade who have died since the unit left in December for its third tour in Iraq.

Elledge was considered an old man in his company. The two-tour Iraq veteran was a teenaged Marine, left the military, but joined the Army a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

"When 9/11 hit, he felt a real need to re-enlist," his sister, Marsha Johnson, said by telephone from Detroit. "He was a real patriot."

While he loved his country, Elledge managed to put his wife and three children first in his life, Johnson said.

"The biggest thing for him was his family," she said.

Elledge's unit had moved in recent weeks from Camp Taji, 20 miles north of Baghdad, to a combat outpost closer to the city's core.

There Elledge served as a father figure for many younger soldiers far away from home.

"He was always proud of what he did, but he didn't flaunt it," Johnson said. "That was just his nature."

His dedication to duty had earned him the Army Commendation Medal.

From a young age, family members knew Elledge would grow up to do great things. He was thoughtful and showed a curiosity and level of caring about the world that other children often lack, they said.

"I always called him a deep spirit," Johnson said.

Simpson joined the Army in 2004 and spent nearly all of 2006 in Iraq with the brigade. In his latest tour, Simpson worked as an armor crewman.

"Chris is livin' it up in Iraq" reads the headline on Simpson's MySpace page.

Simpson loved kayaking and snowboarding, according to his site, which features pictures of him on the slopes at Keystone.

His musical tastes included "a little bit of everything," from Tool to Johnny Cash.

"Rest in Peace Chris, I will always think of you and have you in my heart forever," one friend posted.

Another wrote "Aeternum vale" - Latin for "Farewell forever."

Baghdad, where all but one of 3rd Brigade's six battalions are stationed, had seen a dramatic drop in violence in recent months after U.S. commanders sent in thousands of reinforcements.

But this month, violence has increased throughout the nation in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

Areas where the brigade is working in Baghdad face threats from Sunni groups including Al-Qaida in Iraq and violent Shiite splinter groups that are not honoring a cease-fire tendered by religious leader Muqtada Al Sadr.

Unchanged is the insurgents' tendency to use roadside bombs as their weapon of choice. Of the 233 Fort Carson soldiers killed in Iraq, 107 were felled by bombs.

Comments

  • March 20, 2008

    11:05 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    psu96 writes:

    Marinegrunt by your other post it appears as if your a troll and a terrible rep. of our military and to these family's.

    For those who have fought for it freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.