2 Fort Lewis soldiers killed during attack on vehicle in Iraq

Two Fort Lewis soldiers were killed in Baghdad on Sunday after enemy forces attacked their Stryker armored vehicle.

Defense Department officials on Tuesday announced the deaths of Spc. Kenneth Cross, 21, of Superior, Wis., and Pfc. Daniel Dolan, 19, of Roy, Utah.

Both men were attached to the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry division, which recently began a second yearlong deployment to Iraq.

Cross and Dolan were attached to the 1st Battalion, 23d Infantry Regiment, which was in the Baghdad neighborhood of Abu T'Shir along with Iraqi national police, according to Army public-affairs staff.

Earlier this month, the 3rd Brigade suffered another casualty, Sgt. Gabriel G. DeRoo, 25, of Paw Paw, Mich. DeRoo, with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, died Aug. 20 in Mosul, Iraq.

Cross, who served as a Stryker driver, dropped out of high school and earned a General Educational Development certificate because he wanted to go right into the service, his parents told The Daily Telegram in Superior, Wis.

Cross met his wife, Heidi Cross of Steilacoom, through an online dating service and the two soon married.

"He treated me like a queen and an angel. I don't think we ever had a bad moment," she said. She said she spoke to her husband two hours before his death and was grateful she had a chance to tell him she loved him.

Dolan of Utah joined the Army immediately after graduating from high school, his mother, Fay Dolan, told The Salt Lake Tribune. "He wanted to serve his country. He thought it was important."

During the first tour of Iraq duty, which ended in the fall of 2004, the 3rd Brigade lost 20 soldiers to accidents or hostile fire. Some 300 soldiers were wounded in Iraq during that first deployment, though most were able to return to duty without being flown to hospitals in Germany or the United States, Army officials said.

Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.