Army Sgt. Bryce D. Howard

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. Bryce D. Howard, 24, of Vancouver, Wash.

Sgt. Howard was assigned to Headquarters Support Company, 864th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died Aug. 28, 2007 in Jaji, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Also killed were Sgt. 1st Class Rocky H. Herrera and Sgt. Cory L. Clark.

Bombing kills three Fort Lewis soldiers in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Three soldiers killed in a suicide bombing as they helped build a bridge in Afghanistan were identified Aug. 30 as members of a unit from this Army post south of Tacoma.

Sgt. 1st Class Rocky H. Herrera, 43, of Salt Lake City; Sgt. Cory L. Clark, 25, of Plant City, Fla.; and Sgt. Bryce D. Howard, 24, of Vancouver, Wash., members of the 864th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, died Aug. 28 in the attack in Jaji in eastern Afghanistan, military officials said.

Herrera and Clark were members of the battalion’s 585th Engineer Pipeline Company and Howard was in the Headquarters Support Company. The battalion has been in Afghanistan since March.

Herrera, a construction equipment supervisor, entered military service Aug. 25, 1986, and his current term of active service began in April 1996.

He previously was with the 38th Engineer Company in Hanau, Germany; the 31st Maintenance Company at Fort Irwin, Calif.; and with the 5th Engineer Battalion and later the 577th Engineer Battalion as an instructor in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., before being assigned to Fort Lewis on Aug. 14, 2005.

Clark, a general construction equipment operator who had been deployed twice to Iraq, called home a few days before his death to say he had been promoted to sergeant, his mother, Wrenita Codrington, told WTVT Television in Tampa.

He enlisted in the Army just after graduating from Durant High School in 2001, fed up with working in a grocery store freezer, Codrington said.

“He joined the military, saying, ‘I’d rather get a little dirty than a lot cold all the time,”’ Codrington said.

After Clark’s first tour in Iraq, he returned home to marry his high school sweetheart and they had three children before he was sent to Iraq a second time, his mother said.

Howard, a technical engineer, entered the military on Jan. 16, 2002, underwent basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, then spent a year at Camp Henry, South Korea, before reporting to Fort Lewis on Aug. 19, 2003.

U.S. Army Sgt. Bryce D. Howard, 24, formerly of Battle Ground, was one of three soldiers killed Tuesday in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device, the Defense Department said.

He is the first Southwest Washington soldier to be killed in Afghanistan and the 111th member of the U.S. military with ties to Oregon or southwest Washington to die in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan since the current conflict began.

The Army "was the best thing to happen to him," Howard's father, Dean Howard, said Thursday evening.

"It transformed a young, rebellious teenager into an adult," said Dean Howard, a Vietnam veteran and Yacolt-area resident.

"He was just good-spirited," Dean Howard said. "He developed some really good, close friends (in the Army)."

Also, Bryce's father said, "He had a smile that could get him out of trouble."

Bryce Howard graduated from Battle Ground High School in 2001. Later that year he met his future wife, Amber, in Hazel Dell. They married in December 2001.

The couple, who make their home in Tacoma near Fort Lewis, have two children: Caleb, 7, and Ryen, 3.

"We felt very fortunate he met her and got married," Dean Howard said.

Bryce Howard, a snowboard and motorcycle enthusiast, planned to pursue a career as a surveyor when he left the Army, his father said.

Bryce has a brother, James Howard, 23, and a sister, Casey Howard, 21, both of Clark County.

Bryce was serving his second tour in Afghanistan; he also served there from February 2005 to February 2006.

Jaji, the town where the Defense Department said the explosive device detonated, is best known in Afghanistan's recent military history for a 1987 battle in which Osama bin Laden led Afghan rebels against Soviet soldiers. Jaji is on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Not even a year removed from high school, Bryce Howard entered the Army on Jan. 16, 2002. As a technical engineer, he was assigned to Headquarters Support Company, 864th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade. The unit is based in Fort Lewis, Wash.

He attended initial entry training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and then reported to Camp Henry, Korea, in August 2002, where he served a 12-month tour.

He reported to Fort Lewis on Aug. 19, 2003, and was assigned to 864th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade.

Howard's military education included Basic Combat Training in 2002, the Technical Engineer Qualification Course in 2002, Warrior Leaders Course in 2004, and Combat Lifesaver Course in 2003, the Defense Department said.

His awards and decorations include two Army Commendation Medals, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, NCO Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon, and NATO Medal.

Howard was posthumously promoted to his current rank from his previous rank of corporal.

Also killed were Sgt. 1st Class Rocky H. Herrera, 43, of Salt Lake City; and Sgt. Cory L. Clark, 25, of Plant City, Fla. Herrera and Clark were assigned to the 585th Engineer Pipeline Company, 864th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade.

A memorial ceremony will be held Sept. 12 at Fort Lewis for the three soldiers, Dean Howard said.

Army Sgt. Bryce D. Howard was killed in action on 8/28/07.