Army Sgt. Jason D. Jordan

Died July 20, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

24, of Elba, Ala.; assigned to Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1-187 Infantry Battalion, Fort Campbell, Ky.; died when the vehicle he occupied was ambushed and hit by rocket-propelled grenades during a patrol on July 20 in Tallifar, Iraq.

Sgt. Jason D. Jordan made sure there was no doubt: He was proud of his Southern roots.

“Everywhere Jason went — when people asked him where he was from — he never just said he was from the South; he said ‘I am from Dixie,’ because he was so proud of his hometown, and so proud of being raised here,” the Rev. Mack King said while delivering Jordan’s eulogy.

Jordan, 24, of Elba, Ala., died July 20 when his infantry patrol came under a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq.

“I watched Jason grow up, and I watched him help his grandparents with their cattle farm next door,” said Frank Chirico, a close family friend. “And he was just a good, hardworking, Christian boy who was raised right.”

Jordan joined the military after high school, where he was an honor student and member of the Beta Club and the Math Club.

“Jason strongly believed in what he was doing, by serving in the armed forces to keep America safe and strong,” his family said in a statement.

— Associated Press