2 more Ft. Lewis Stryker soldiers killed

FORT LEWIS — Two 21-year-old Stryker brigade soldiers from Fort Lewis have been killed in Iraq, the first reported casualties in June for the post that last month lost 20 soldiers in the war.

Spc. William J. Crouch, 21, of Zachary, La., died Saturday in Al Hadid when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle, the Department of Defense said in a release Monday.

On the same day, Spc. Romel Catalan, 21, of Los Angeles, died in a separate attack in Ameriyah, the department said. He was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

Catalan enlisted in the Army on July 13, 2004. He trained at Fort Knox in Kentucky and reported to Fort Lewis on Nov. 16, 2004.

A member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Catalan left for Iraq last June on his first deployment.

Crouch was a cavalry scout with the 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, south of Tacoma.

He joined the Army during his senior year in high school. His desire to serve came from his father, James Crouch, a Baton Rouge policeman who died of natural causes when Crouch was 13, his mother, Kathy Rushing, said.

He wanted to be "in the thick of things ... on the front lines," she said.

The 4th Brigade has lost 10 soldiers since leaving for Iraq in April on what has since been extended to a 15-month tour in the country.

A memorial service is planned today at Fort Lewis for Staff Sgts. David Kuehl and Kristopher Higdon, Pfc. Robert Worthington and Cpl. Mathew LaForest.

The four were among 20 Fort Lewis soldiers killed in multiple attacks last month, the deadliest for the post — as well as for troops with ties to the state — since the war began in March 2003.