Soldier Honored: Florence B. Choe
Hometown: El Cajon, California
Branch of Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant
No one was surprised when Navy Lieutenant Florence B. Choe, from El Cajon, California volunteered for duty in Afghanistan. She did this even though it meant a year away from her husband and 3 year-old daughter. Lt. Choe was assigned to the medical station that served US troops as well as Afghan troops and civilians - mentoring the Afghans as they devised a healthcare system for their army. Lt. Choe was commissioned as a Medical Service Corps officer in the Navy in 2002. Days after 9/11, she went to a Navy recruiting office and signed up to serve and follow in her father’s footsteps as a career sailor.
On March 27, 2009, an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire, fatally wounding Lt. Choe and another Navy officer at Forward Operating Base Shaheen near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan’s Balkh province. She was 35 years old.
Lt. Choe attended elementary and high school in the San Diego suburb of Spring Valley. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology (1997) at UC San Diego and a master’s degree in Public Health and Healthcare Administration (2001) at San Diego State. An avid snowboarder and runner, Lt. Choe met her husband, Naval Academy graduate, Navy Lt. Commander Chong “Jay” Choe while working at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. The two married in 2004 and shortly after were assigned to Okinawa, Japan for a general medical officer tour. While stationed there, the couple’s daughter was born. After Okinawa, the young family was transferred to San Diego where Lt. Choe served as a medical service corps officer.
Lieutenant Choe’s daughter is the recipient of the Folds of Honor Children’s Fund scholarship.