Yari Mokri dies of injuries from I.E.D.

After Marine Sgt. Byron Norwood, 25, of Pflugerville, Texas, was killed in action in Anbar province in Iraq in November 2004, his friend, Spc. Yari Mokri, also of Pflugerville, expressed his sorrow on the Fallen Heroes Memorial — an online tribute to GIs who have died in the war.

"I miss you Byron," Mokri wrote. "Sometimes it seems like I see you in a crowd, and I want to call out to you. It's such a helpless feeling. I think about you every day and I won't ever forget; and I won't let others forget."

On Wednesday, Mokri, 26, and four other Schofield Barracks soldiers were killed when a roadside explosive ripped apart their Humvee in the Sunni Arab city of Hawijah, south of Kirkuk.

In that instant, the five soldiers became the 25th Infantry Division's largest single combat loss since the Vietnam War.

Mokri, a counterintelligence agent, was a 2005 graduate of Texas State University with a bachelor's of science in criminal justice. He joined the Army in June 2005 and was assigned to Schofield Barracks in December 2005.

He had told his mom the experience of being in Iraq had given him a greater appreciation for his home and family in Texas.

Janet Norwood, mother of Byron Norwood, remembered Mokri yesterday as a "wonderful young man" with a personality to match his smile.

Mokri was amused by e-mails from his Marine friend, who invariably ended with you "Ain't Ready to be Marine Yet" — A.R.M.Y.

"Yari and our son, Byron, were close friends — as are their younger sisters," said Janet Norwood. "We lost Byron in Iraq a little over two years ago, which makes this new loss extremely hard to believe.

"It seems that lightning has struck twice in the same place in our little town. We love the Mokri family and hope to be as supportive of them at this time as they have been to us for the past two years."

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