Name: Army Cpl. Michael A. Pursel

Relatives grieve the loss of 6 Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Iraq

By Melanthia Mitchell
The Associated Press

SEATTLE — None of the six soldiers killed in one of the deadliest attacks on a Fort Lewis unit in more than two years lived to see his 30th birthday.

They were members of the Army’s 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and all had entered active-duty service within the past six years. Most were serving their first tour when a homemade bomb exploded near their vehicle May 6 in Baqubah, Iraq.

As the post south of Tacoma plans a memorial service May 15, relatives of the soldiers recalled the fallen sons, brothers and fiancés they had hoped to see come home in October.

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Cpl. Michael Pursel was 19 when he died, the youngest of the six soldiers killed when the homemade bomb exploded near their vehicle.

Pursel moved to Lacey in 1998, when his father was reassigned from Germany to Fort Lewis. His mother, Terry Dutcher, is a captain in the Air Force Reserve who lives in Hooper, Utah.

Dutcher was not immediately available for comment May 10. A woman answering Dutcher’s cell phone and who identified herself as Pursel’s grandmother said joining the military was his dream.

“Michael’s wanted to join the Army since he was 2 years old,” she said. “As soon as he got out of high school he joined.”

Pursel enlisted in April of last year. He’d been in Iraq just over a month when he died.

“Michael was doing what he always wanted to do,” Dutcher told The Olympian newspaper of Olympia. “In light of how it turned out, I know Michael was happy. I just take peace in that right now.”