Army Capt. Daniel Whitten

Remember Our Heroes

Army Capt. Daniel Whitten, 28, of Grimes, Iowa

Capt. Whitten was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device Feb. 2, 2010 in Zabul province, Afghanistan. Also killed was Pfc. Zachary G. Lovejoy.

An Iowa soldier who grew up in the Des Moines area and graduated from West Point has been killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb, the U.S. Department of Defense said today.

U.S. Army Capt. Daniel P. Whitten, 28, of Grimes, was a 1999 graduate of Johnston High School. He died Tuesday in Zabul Province along with Pfc. Zachary G. Lovejoy, 20, of Albuquerque, N.M., when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device, military officials said.

Capt. Whitten is survived by his wife, Star Whitten, and his parents, Dan and Jill Whitten and a sister, Sarah Whitten Frederickson, a captain in the U.S. Army who is also serving in Afghanistan, military officials said.

The two soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, of Fort Bragg, N.C.

“Capt. Whitten and Pfc. Lovejoy were beloved members of the task force. The lived their lives to the fullest extent possible in everything they did. Their lives inspired us, and their memories will drive us to honor them,” said Lt. Col. David I. Oclander, commander of the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Regiment.

Whitten is the 73rd person with Iowa ties killed in Iraq, Afghanistan or other places from combat, illness or accident since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

Capt. Whitten was a 2004 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where he received a bachelor’s degree with a double major in mathematics and art, philosophy and literature. He spent one semester at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis during his junior year.

A quote on his yearbook read, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

Army Col. Rick Kerin, head of the U.S. Military Academy's Department of English and Philosophy said today that faculty members recalled Whitten "as a bright and thoughtful student, a most personable cadet."

Whitten was commissioned a second lieutenant in May 2004 and was sent to Iraq for a four-month deployment in 2004. In 2007, he was sent to Afghanistan for a 15-month tour, and he returned again to Afghanistan in last August as commanding officer of Company C, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Regiment.

“Dan and Zachary will be missed by all of C Company,” said First Lt. Scott Haran, a platoon leader in Company C. “We will dedicate ourselves to their memory and to their legacy. To Starr and Mr. and Mrs. Lovejoy, you are in our thoughts and prayers.”

Capt. Whitten's awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Commendation Medal with two Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the NATO Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Air Assault Badge, the Senior Parachutist's Badge and the Ranger Tab.

Whitten played football at Johnston High School, also working on the student newspaper. In addition, he participated in the ROTC program at Hoover High School in Des Moines.

Johnston High School Associate Principal Jerry Stratton got to know Whitten well as a student during the years that he taught history and government and while he coached football. He said Whitten would also return in the years after his graduation to visit. They had many conversations about about foreign policy and the military and Stratton said he always looked forward to talking with the quiet, thoughtful young man.

"He was the kid who was always doing the right thing. He always stood by his values, and was true to his family and himself. He was the kind of young man who you hoped your own kids would grow up to represent," said Stratton, who acknowledged he was struggling today to come to grips with Whitten's death.

"When I think about kids who are thinking about going into the military, the one thing about Dan is that I always trusted his character as a person who I would want representing our country," Stratton said.

Army Col. Rick Kerin, head of the U.S. Military Academy's Department of English and Philosophy said today that faculty members recalled Whitten "as a bright and thoughtful student, a most personable cadet.

"He clearly demonstrated to us the qualities that we rightly celebrate in those graduates who proceed from West Point to the Army to lead soldiers and care for their families during these challenging times," Kerin said.

Capt. Whitten was the first West Point graduate who received a major from his department to have died in the global war on terrorism 'and the loss is profound on many levels," Kerin said.

Daniel Whitten was honored and remembered on Thursday - at the Iowa Capitol, at Johnston High School, on the historic grounds of West Point, and in the rough-and-tumble countryside of Afghanistan.

Whitten's wife, Starr, told The Des Moines Register that her husband was a graduate of Johnston High School and the U.S. Military Academy. He was on his third deployment in four years of marriage.

Army Capt. Daniel Whitten was killed in action on 2/2/10.