OIA PRESS RELEASESon of American Samoa Falls in Iraq
The Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs remembers and honors these valiant dead and their surviving families, who offer up the ultimate in sacrifice in the War on Terror. The seven insular areas under OIA jurisdiction, combined, have thousands of sons and daughters who have served or are currently serving in all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. The death of U.S. Army Sergeant Nimo W. M. Tauala brings the number of deaths in the War on Terror from American Samoa to eleven. |
(Washington, D.C. March 22) As reported in the Samoa News, U.S. Army Sergeant Nimo Westhill Masaniai Tauala, 29, died in Muqdadiyah, Iraq of a non-combat related injury. Sgt. Tauala joined the U.S. Army in 2000 and was assigned to the 209th Aviation Support Battalion, Combat Aviation Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu in 2004. Sgt. Tauala was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii but his parents hail from American Samoa.