- Emily Perez
Infobox Military Person
name=Emily Jazmin Tatum Perez
lived= birth date|1983|2|19 – death date and age|2006|9|12|1983|2|19
placeofbirth=Heidelberg ,West Germany
placeofdeath=KIA inAl Kifl ,Iraq
caption=
nickname=
allegiance= United States of America
branch=United States Army
serviceyears=2005-2006
rank=Second Lieutenant
commands=
unit=204th Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade
battles=Iraq War
awards=Bronze StarPurple Heart
relations=
laterwork=Emily Jazmin Tatum Perez (
19 February 1983 –12 September 2006 ) was the first female minorityCadet Command Sergeant Major in the history of theUnited States Military Academy at West Point.Born in
Heidelberg ,West Germany ofAfrican American andHispanic parents in a U.S. military family, she graduated fromOxon Hill High School , inMaryland , where she was wing commander of Junior ROTC. While in high school, working with the District's Peace Baptist Church, Perez helped begin an HIV-AIDS ministry after family members contracted the virus.In July 2001, after graduation from high school, Perez attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. There she was an exemplary student and talented track athlete. Following graduation from West Point, she was commissioned a
Second Lieutenant in the 204th Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division of theUnited States Army . Perez deployed toIraq in December as a Medical Service Corps officer. She was killed when a makeshift bomb exploded near her Humvee during combat operations inAl Kifl , nearNajaf . Aged 23, she was the first female graduate of West Point to die in theIraq War , the first West Point graduate of the "Class of 9/11 " to die in combat, and the first female African-American officer to die in combat. Her decorations include thePurple Heart , Bronze Star ,Commendation Medal ,National Defense Service Medal ,Army Service Ribbon , theOverseas Service Ribbon , and theCombat Action Badge .Emily Perez was the 64th female member of the U.S. military to be killed in Iraq or
Afghanistan and the 40th West Point graduate killed since theSeptember 11 ,2001 attacks. Another female West Point graduate,Laura M. Walker of the Class of 2003, was killed in Afghanistan in 2005.Perez was interred at the
West Point Cemetery .External links
* Partlow, Joshua and Lonnae O'Neal Parker, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601765.html "West Point Mourns a Font Of Energy, Laid to Rest by War"] , "
Washington Post ",27 September 2006
* [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/dates/2006/sep/12/emily-j-perez/ Faces of the Fallen: 2nd Lt. Emily J. Perez] , "Washington Post"
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-burial27sep27,1,2266469.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true West Point Graduate Is First of 'Class of 9/11' to Die in Combat] , "Reuters " via "Los Angeles Times ",27 September 2006
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1541261,00.html Death Comes Calling For the Class of 9/11] , "Time",1 October 2006
* [http://medicalservicecorps.amedd.army.mil/our_people/2LTPerez_memorialprogram.ppt Memorial program (PowerPoint)] , medicalservicecorps.amedd.army.mil
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