1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry

Died: Sept. 29, 2003, near Abu Ghraib, Iraq, age 26

A volunteer firefighter and EMT from Jim Thorpe, Pa., he joined the military after graduating from Jim Thorpe Area High School. While in Afghanistan, he worked with Tommy Franks and though his promotion papers deemed him a future leader, Ann wanted her son to run and hide if someone was shooting at him. (The secret code that mother and son shared that would pass this message was, "Remember what mom said." To which A.J. would reply, "Mom, don't say that.") Ann was more nervous about her son heading to Iraq in August 2003 than she was when he was deployed to Afghanistan a year earlier. Ironically, he'd lose his life in the water in which he felt so confident.

When a fellow soldier's Humvee overturned in a canal near Abu Ghraib on Sept. 29, 2003, A.J. tried to rescue the driver and passengers. After retrieving two soldiers and learning that a third was still in the water, he dove to rescue that soldier. When passing the soldier off to another officer, the soldier was dropped and fell back into the water. A.J. dove back into the water. He drowned after apparently hitting his head on a rock and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Tomorrow would have been his 29th birthday.

That A.J. loved being in the military, being in the water and saving people's lives helps his family cope. Reflecting on his death, his sister, Elizabeth Hoherchak, asked, "How many soldiers get to die doing the things that they love most in life?"