Private First Class Torey Dantzler, 22, of Columbia, Louisiana, was assigned to the Army’s 66th Transportation Company, based in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He was deployed to Iraq in January 2004. He was killed July 22, 2004, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his convoy vehicle in Samarra, Iraq.

PFC Dantzler graduated from Caldwell High School in 2000 where he was a member of the track and football teams. “Torey always had a joke. I always remember him mentoring the younger kids on the football team,” said classmate Mitch Bratton. He joined the Army shortly thereafter and was trained as a gunner and driver.

PFC Dantzler never met his new son, Torey Jr. At the time of his death, he was only a few days from heading home to meet him. His wife Serena said she had lost her soul. She told her children about their father every day. “The world lost a great person. My kids lost a very strong parent. He was the head of the household, and I don’t have a best friend anymore.”

Survivors include his wife Serena and two children, Kayla and Torey Jr.