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Army Sgt. 1st Class Neil A. Prince
35, of Baltimore; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; killed June 11 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle in Taqaddum, Iraq. Also killed was Spc. Casey Byers.
Baltimore soldier killed in Iraq
Associated Press
BALTIMORE — A Baltimore soldier was one of two troops killed last week in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy, the Department of Defense announced late Monday.
Sgt. 1st Class Neil A. Prince, 35, of Baltimore, and Spc. Casey Byers, 22, of Schleswig, Iowa, died June 11 in Taqaddum, Iraq, the Pentagon said.
Prince was assigned to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo.
“It was a very unfortunate set of events” that led to Prince being in the convoy that was attacked, according to Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, public affairs officer for the Iowa National Guard. Prince needed to travel to another city in Iraq and was being transported with the convoy when it encountered several improvised bombs, Hapgood said Monday night. One bomb detonated directly under Prince’s vehicle.
Hapgood said the convoy was moving equipment and soldiers when the first bomb went off, but that explosion didn’t injure anyone. The convoy stopped to secure the area, to search for insurgents and find out if they had other bombs when a second one exploded.
“Eventually, a third improvised explosive device, apparently quite powerful, detonated directly under an unarmored Humvee and destroyed the vehicle and killed both soldiers,” Hapgood said.
Neil Armstrong Prince — his parents named him after the first astronaut to walk on the moon — was born in Jamaica and moved with his family to Baltimore when he was 10, The (Baltimore) Sun reported. His parents, Cecil and Olive Bailey, now live in Harford County.
Prince enlisted right after graduating from City College. He met his wife, Suzette, while she was working as an Army medic.
“He loved being a soldier,” Mrs. Prince told The Sun. “I tried to get him to leave, but he always said that’s his job.”
Mrs. Prince and the couple’s 4-year-old son, Jordan, live with the sergeant’s parents.
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Prayers & Condolences For:
Neil A. Prince
BY Anonymous on Jan 24, 2009 | |  | Thank you for your courage and service. May you rest in God's loving and secure arms.
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