Based: Ft. Campbell, Ky.
C Company, 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 101st AB Division
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: December 10, 2003
Mosul, Iraq
Married, 2 children
Gender: Male
Hometown: National City High School: Palomar High (Vista)
Burial: Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego
Read the entire LA Times article about Army Staff Sergeant Richard A. Burdick here and go here for pictures.After six years in the Army and frequent overseas deployments, Staff Sgt. Richard A. Burdick worked out a plan to be close to his wife, Jeniffer, and their two children.
Upon his return from Iraq in February, the 24-year-old soldier from National City, Calif., would take his family to Korea for a yearlong assignment. After that, they would be based at Ft. Irwin, near Barstow, and he would not be deployed for five years.
"He wanted to be with his family," said his wife, who had been staying with relatives in Lancaster since Burdick left for Iraq in May. "He wanted to finally be together without going to any more wars, any more peacekeeping missions."
But Burdick was killed Dec. 10 in an ambush when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in Mosul.Burdick was stationed with his family at Ft. Bragg, N.C., as well as Ft. Campbell, but had to leave his family behind when he went on peacekeeping missions to Macedonia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. During Burdick's last visit home in November, the family visited his mother, Tari Burdick of Ridgecrest.Jeniffer Burdick last heard from her husband by phone from Iraq the day after their sixth wedding anniversary, just hours before he was killed. In that conversation, she said, he described how insurgents attacked American soldiers by throwing improvised explosive devices at them.
"I told him to be safe," she said. "He told me to tell Angel that he would be here for her birthday."
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