34, of Phoenix; assigned to the 767th Ordnance Company, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.; killed May 23 when an improvised explosive device detonated as he was responding to a report of an improvised explosive device in Baghdad.

 

The last time Kari Verdugo talked to her husband, Russell, they were planning their honeymoon. "We were going to take a trip to Scotland," she said. "I love to travel and we'd never taken a honeymoon, and I was hoping we would get one in." Russell J. Verdugo, 34, of Phoenix, was killed May 23 in Baghdad while on an assignment to remove a makeshift explosive. He was based at Fort McNair. The Verdugos married last Thanksgiving before Russell Verdugo was deployed to Iraq in January.

 

He had also served in Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004. He joined the military in 1993 because he wanted to pursue a college education and study engineering. He was an avid photographer who took thousands of photographs, whether he was at home or stationed in Iraq. "They look like National Geographic photos, the poppy fields, the machine guns _ photojournalist-type work," said his mother, Susan Stanley. "I told him, 'That should be a second career for you.'"

 

"He enjoyed life and wanted people to see what he'd seen," said his stepfather,

Neil Stanley. Source: Associated Press