Army Pvt. Travis C. Zimmerman

Remember Our Heroes

Army Pvt. Travis C. Zimmerman, 19, of New Berlinville, Pennsylvania.

Pvt. Zimmerman died in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his observation post during dismounted combat reconnaissance operations. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Died on April 22, 2006.

www.mcall.com -- A 19-year-old soldier from the Boyertown area was killed Saturday in Iraq when he set off a hidden bomb while on foot patrol, according to the Department of Defense.

Pvt. Travis C. Zimmerman of N. Reading Road, Colebrookdale Township, was serving with the 101st Airborne Division less than a year after graduating from Boyertown Area High School.

An Army spokesman, Maj. Nathan Banks, said Monday that Zimmerman had left a reconnaissance post in Baghdad to investigate something ''dismounted combat reconnaissance operations'' and was on his way back when he stepped on or otherwise set off the bomb, or ''improvised explosive device.''

He could have tripped a wire, Banks said, adding Zimmerman died from massive trauma. He was alone at the time, no one else was injured, Banks said.

Zimmerman lived with his father, Lloyd C. Zimmerman Jr., and stepmother in a home in the New Berlinville section of Colebrookdale, just north of Boyertown.

Army officials said his mother, Gail Camperson, lives in Red Hill.

Along with a yellow ribbon looped around a front-yard tree, two signs were posted at the Zimmerman home Monday: ''Family and friends welcome. Media and others
trespassing. Please be respectful of the family in this time of sorrow.''

Zimmerman joined the Army on July 22, soon after his June graduation from Boyertown High, and went to Iraq early this year, said George Heath, garrison public affairs officer at Fort Campbell, Ky., where Zimmerman was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.

Word of the tragedy was just making its way through the student body at Boyertown High on Monday morning, said Principal Daniel Goffredo. No formal announcement was made, but Goffredo said a statement probably would be issued today, in part so students who may be upset by the news could get counseling.

Goffredo said he didn't know Zimmerman well, but remembered him as ''a nice kid, personable.''

Goffredo and Superintendent Harry W. Morgan said the sympathies of everyone in the district go out to Zimmerman's family.

A school community feels the loss of any student or former student, ''and certainly when they're in service to our country, it's something we respect,'' Morgan said.

Several students leaving school Monday afternoon said they knew Zimmerman, but were not close friends.

''He was just on my bus,'' said Maria Wier, a senior. ''It's so sad.''

''He was a good kid,'' recalled senior Amanda Fichter.

But two English teachers remembered Zimmerman very well and fondly. Teacher Beth Williams' face couldn't help but light up when a reporter asked about Zimmerman.

''Travis was one of these kids who would have a smirk on his face,'' she said ”not a cynical expression, but rather the kind of wry, knowing smile that comes with a dry sense of humor.

Though basically a quiet person, ''He had a great sense of humor,'' Williams said. ''He always made me laugh. He was a pleasure to have in class because of that sense of humor.''

Williams said she was shocked not only to learn of Zimmerman's death, but also that he had joined the Army. Though she didn't have Zimmerman in class as a senior, ''I never pegged him as a military kind of kid,'' she said.

Nevertheless, in the 2005 high school yearbook, Zimmerman listed only one word under the heading ''future plans'' Army.

English teacher Kimberly Willing, who had Zimmerman as a senior, also said she hadn't realized he was interested in the military. Willing taught Zimmerman in a literature course, ''Themes in Writing,'' otherwise known as ''the dreaded research-paper class,'' she said.

Zimmerman always had his papers done on time and was pleasant to work with, she said, also recalling his sense of humor. ''I remember his laugh,'' she said. ''He chuckled a lot, and talked with his buddies a lot.''

After hearing of Zimmerman's death, Willing dug out one of his papers, from last May, and read it as a way to help remember the young man.

With graduation and all that it portends looming before him, Zimmerman had chosen to study a John Steinbeck classic. The paper's title: ''The American Dream in 'Of Mice and Men.'''

Army Pvt. Travis C. Zimmerman was killed in action on 04/22/06.