Joseph C. Dumas

Joseph C. Dumas, Jr.

Company C 1-22 Infantry

4th Infantry Division (Mechanized)

KIA October 17, 2006

NEW ORLEANS: Hundreds gathered this morning to pay their last respects to a 25-year-old soldier killed in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded.

Army Specialist Joseph Claude Dumas Junior, of New Orleans, joined the military in August 2003
and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood.
He and three others in his unit were killed October 18th in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle.

A 1999 graduate of Alcee Fortier High School, Dumas earned various military awards including the Army's Good Conduct medal
and the Global War on Terrorism service medal.

Holding large American flags that rippled in the wind, members of the Patriot Guard Riders _ a motorcycle group including many veterans _
stood outside First Emmanuel Baptist Church where Dumas' funeral services were held.

The group has begun appearing at military funerals to honor the fallen service member and protect the family from disruptions
after a Kansas church group began staging protests at military funerals nationwide.
The church group contends that the military deaths are a sign of God's anger at U.S. tolerance of homosexuals.

Dumas is survived by his wife, Kilyevska, and three children.

___

Information from: WGNO-TV, http://abc26.com

**********************

BACK