Based: San Bernardino
181st Support Battalion
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: November 7, 2004
Baghdad (western part), Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Mission Viejo
High School: Mission Viejo High (Mission Viejo)
Foreign Country of Birth: Vietnam
Burial: Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside
From VNListing:
Trần Quốc Bình
Tran Quoc Binh (aka Binh Quoc "Bo" Tran) (Vietnamese: Trần Quốc Bình) (1978 - 2004) was born in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He was the first U.S. Army Vietnamese-American killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad, Iraq.
From AsianAmerican:
Tran Quoc Binh was born in South Vietnam in 1978. He was the first U.S. Army Vietnamese-American killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad, Iraq in 2004.From the LA Times:
During the Fall of Saigon, his father Van Tran a devout anti-communist was a Lieutenant in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). He chose to remain and protect his family and defend South Vietnam from the invading North Vietnamese Army and their Viet Cong Agents.
His father was captured and sent to a re-education camp...In 1986, upon the release of his father their family secretly left the clutches of Communism through the jungle. Sergeant Tran Quoc Binh carried his sister Katie on his shoulders and led his other sister Kristie by the hand through the jungles in Vietnam.
When he left for Iraq, Sgt. Quoc Binh "Bo" Tran's family knew they were not supposed to worry. For him, it was his duty and the kind of adventure that fueled his daring spirit.
Tran, 26, a mechanic in the California Army National Guard, died after the vehicle he was riding in was struck by a roadside bomb Nov. 7 outside Baghdad.
"He was a hands-on kind of guy," said Tran's sister Katie, 23. "He would try anything, often even until it hurt him. He was a loving person but very independent and one who would go into anything and not think twice about it."
"My mom and my brother enjoyed a special relationship. He would call every day and let her know how things were going. She and my dad are very proud of him," she added.
"What's the opposite of sedentary? Well, whatever the word is, that was Bo," said Kristie, another sister. "One of the main reasons he joined the Guard was to travel and to serve his country.
Tran's mother, Thu Truong Tran, did express worry about his being in the Guard, especially after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But his parents tempered their emotions and showed support for his decision, Kristie said.
"He joined before Sept. 11 and, like everyone in this country, he felt it was an attack on our soil," she added. "He was one of those people who wanted to protect the United States, like we were under his protection and he felt very proud of that. He felt like that was his duty."Tran joined the National Guard about three years ago after serving in the active-duty Army, said 1st Lt. Jonathan Shiroma, a Guard spokesman in Sacramento. ...The Vietnam native, his family's oldest child, was a naturalized U.S. citizen.Tran got his nickname from two sources, said his sister Kristie. "It was short for Binh, but also it was short for Beau, which means 'beautiful' in French."
Find more about Army National Guard Sergeant Quoc Binh Tran
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