i st Lt. David Bernstein,
24, formerly of Phoenixville, Pa.,
was with the Army's 173rd Airborne
Infantry Brigade when he was killed
Oct. 16, 2003, when enemy forces
ambushed his patrol with rocket-pro-
pelled grenades and small-arms fire.
According to the Phoenix newspa- -
Sgt. Elijah Tai Wah Wong,
42, of Mesa, Az., was killed Feb. 9,
2004, in Sinjar, Iraq, when he and
other soldiers were trying to move a
cache of unexploded rocket-propelled
grenades and mortar rounds, which
per, Lt. Bernstein was dropped into
northern Iraq at the beginning of the
war and had remained there since,
according to his father, Richard
Bernstein. His father told the paper,
"He was an exceptional man and a
wonderful person and he will be
missed terribly. He felt very indebted
to this country for what it has done
for him and for everyone. He wanted
to serve his country, and he did."
Lt. Bernstein graduated fifth in his
class from the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point. His funeral
was held at the Jewish chapel at West
Point. As a perpetual tribute to him,
his family has established the 1st Lt.
David R. Bernstein Memorial Award
to be given to those in each graduat-
ing class of West Point who achieve
the fifth-highest class standing.
Donations may be made at:
www-secure.westpoint.org/
drb/memorial/donate
had been seized from enemy forces.
The cache blew up; killing him and
another soldier. Sgt. Wong was with
the 363rd Explosive Ordnance
Company, Army National Guard,
based in Casa Grande.
As reported by the . Chicago
Tribune, Sgt. Wong was the son of a
Chinese father and a Jewish mother.
He was born and raised in New
York, but moved to Israel as a teenag-
er. He went to an Israeli high school
and became a soldier in the Israeli
army. He enlisted in the Air Force
after returning to the States.
Sgt. Wong also served in the N.Y.
Air National Guard and the Air
Force Reserves before enlisting in the
Arizona National Guard. He worked
as a probation officer for Maricopa
County and was married with three
children.
Army Spc. Marc S. Seiden,
26, of Brigantine, N.J., died Jan. 3,
2004, in Baghdad when his convoy
was ambushed by the enemy, who
used an improvised explosive device,
small-arms fire and a rocket-pro-
pelled grenade. He was assigned to
2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne.
His mother, Gail Seiden, told the
Army Lt. Seth Dvorin,
of East Brunswick, N.J., a member
of the 10th Mountain Division,
based at Fort Drum, N.Y., was
killed Feb. 3, 2004, in Iraq.
His sister, Rebekah, told the
Fayetteville, N.C., Observer that her
son was "aa daredevil since child-
hood;" which led him to join the air-
borne. "I always had to have 25 eyes
on him."
Spc. Seiden joined the Army in
April 2002 and was assigned to the
82nd that September. His mother
said Marc joined the Army in part
because of the terrorist attacks on 9-
11. She added, "He joined because
he felt he had a duty. I didn't under-
stand it when he did it. I was angry
at him because I knew what could
possibly happen. But he felt like he
could fight for his country and he
wanted to."
Marc, his mother said, called his
family twice on New Year's Eve and
once on New Year's Day He was
excited about coming home since his
unit was scheduled to come back in
February. Seiden was posthumously
awarded a Bronze Star for val or.
Associated Press that the army
informed her that "Seth's unit had
been ordered to clear the area of the
homemade mines and bombs that
have killed dozens of troops ... they
were in a convoy and saw some-
thing in the road. My brother, the
hero, told his driver to stop. That's
when the bomb detonated, when
they were trying to dismantle it."
Lt. Dvorin's father, Richard, told
the AP that his son was a loyal,
responsible commander who sought
to make life as easy as possible on
the soldiers he oversaw. Offered two
weeks' leave in December, his father
said, Seth refused to go because so
many of his platoon members had
not yet had the chance. Lt. Dvorin
was posthumously awarded a
Bronze Star for valor.
FREEDOM'S TOLL
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7/ 2
2004
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