Stryker soldier "gravitated to children"

Army Cpl. Christopher Nelson and his wife had decided to wait a few years before starting a family.

So in the meantime, the 22-year-old Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade soldier lavished other children with attention, including his nieces and nephews — and the Iraqi children he met while deployed on his second tour in the war. "He just gravitated to children," said his father, John Nelson, of Rochester, Thurston County. "The kids are really what made his day over there ... and the difference they were making with the kids was what was important to him."

But last weekend, his affection for children made him a target of violence.

Cpl. Nelson, a 2003 graduate of Rochester High School, was killed along with two other Stryker soldiers after a suicide bomber set off his explosives at a playground in Iraq's Diyala province, where the soldiers were handing out candy and toys to children, according to The Associated Press. The blast also killed three Iraqi children and injured seven others. The U.S. Department of Defense officially said only that the three men, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, were killed by an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol. Also killed were Cpl. Jason Lee, 26, of Fruitport, Mich., and Pfc. Marius Ferrero, 23, of Miami, Fla.

Cpl. Nelson was the third child in a family of eight children and grew up in Thurston County. He was a football fan and loved to hang out with his family and friends, his father said. In high school, he worked at a Rochester service station. He enlisted in the Army right out of high school, in January 2004, and was first sent to Iraq a year later, John Nelson said. Two months after he returned from his first tour, in December 2005, Nelson married his wife, Angela, also a Rochester High grad. The day Cpl. Nelson died — Nov. 18 — was the fifth anniversary of their meeting. She survives him in Rochester.

He transferred from Georgia's Fort Stewart to Fort Lewis in May, and in August, he joined members of the 4th Stryker Brigade, who had arrived in Iraq in April.

The Army posthumously promoted Nelson to corporal, said Joe Hitt, a Fort Lewis spokesman. In addition to his wife and father, survivors include his mother, Pamela Hill of Lacey; grandparents Carl and Gail Nelson, of Rochester; brothers Nick Harmanson, of Onalaska, and Geoff Nelson, of Rochester; younger siblings, Jasmine, Jared, Cameron, Cierra and Nicki, all of Lacey; his stepmother, Julie Galpin, of Rochester; stepsiblings Alyson Strickler, of Rochester, Andy Galpin, of Memphis, Tenn., Niki Jorgenson, of Centralia, and Casey Galpin of Denver, Colo; and five nieces and nephews.

A memorial service is planned for Dec. 4 at Fort Lewis to honor Cpl. Nelson, Cpl. Lee and Pvc. Ferrero. A private family funeral has not yet been scheduled.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com