Army, Sergeant
Based: Ft. Bragg, N.C.
2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: December 3, 2007
Ashwah, Iraq
Married, 1 child
Gender: Male
Hometown: El Dorado Hills
High School: Oak Ridge High School (El Dorado Hills)
Burial: Green Valley Cemetery, Graton, Calif.
[Sergeant Dayton's wife Nicole] said she will forever have imprinted in her mind the image from the day her husband flew off to Iraq. They had about 15 minutes together and she gave him a hug and a kiss. Standing 6 feet 2 and with his pack on his back, Dayton bent down to kiss her belly, swelling with their unborn son. "I'll see you in a couple months," he said, and then walked away.
"He looked back once, and he smiled at me," Nicole said. "He had that smile on his face that he always has . . . it was a goofy smile, it was that don't-you-dare-cry sort of smile, but his eyes looked kind of sad, and I'd never seen that before.
"I was just about to lose it, I was just about to collapse in tears . . . but it was OK, I really thought it was going to be OK. You know, I'll always have that picture of him in my mind."
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