Ryan J. Hill dies of injuries from I.E.D.

A 20-year-old soldier from Keizer died Saturday in Iraq, one of two Oregonians to perish in a spate of violence that broke out over the weekend in the war-torn nation.

Army Pfc. Ryan J. Hill was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad.

Hill, who attended McNary High School, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany, according to a U.S. Department of Defense announcement Tuesday.

His mother, Shawna L. Hill, was too broken up to speak about her son's death, according to a family friend who gave his name only as "Scooter." He provided no other details about Ryan Hill.

Hill was on his first tour in Iraq when he was killed. He is the 78th military member with strong ties to Oregon or Southwest Washington to be killed in Iraq.

Sgt. Sean Patrick Fennerty, 25, of Portland also was killed Saturday; his death was announced Monday. Fennerty, a 1999 graduate of Jesuit High School and a 2004 graduate of Oregon State University, was in a Humvee that was struck by a roadside bomb in Anbar province.

A Mass of Christian burial for Fennerty will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, in the Knight Center at Jesuit High School.

On Hill's account at MySpace, an online social networking Web site used mostly by young people, the soldier wrote almost exclusively about his family life and friends.

According to his page, he grew up with his mother and sister and attended McNary High. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, so he joined the Army.

About being in Iraq, he wrote: "It is walking on that thin line between sanity and insanity. That feeling of total abandonment by a government and a country you used to love because politics are fighting the war . . . and it's a losing battle . . . and we're the ones ultimately paying the price."

He spoke of his love for his fellow soldiers and his family and of the several kinds of music he liked.

From the Oregonian