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Salem soldier, 23, dies in Iraq blast

By James A. Kimble / Eagle Tribune

SALEM – A 23-year-old local soldier, who worked as an explosives expert, was killed in Iraq over the weekend while trying to disarm a roadside bomb.

Staff Sgt. Edmond Lo, a 2004 graduate of Salem High School, was on his second tour of duty when he died early Saturday, according to his mother, Rosa Lo.

Edmond Lo was part of a team of soldiers trying to disarm the bomb in Samarra City around 1:30 a.m., when it exploded. Army officials told the family it's unclear exactly what happened, his mother said.

The Lo family learned of Edmond's death from two soldiers who came to their Salem home at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, she said. The military didn't announce Lo's death until Monday.

"When I saw them, it was a very big surprise," Rosa Lo said. "It was very scary and I was nervous. I did not know what happened, then they asked me to sit down."

She described her son as a bright, determined young man who worked hard in school and in the Army. Lo was awarded a full, three-year scholarship to Rochester Institute of Technology, but decided to pursue a career in the military instead.

He trained as an explosives expert after his first tour of duty in Iraq. "He was outstanding," his mother said. "He was among the very few who passed the class."

"He has always tried to do his best with anything he learned," she said.

Lo was the youngest of six children. He leaves behind three sisters and two brothers. His youngest brother, Norman, was a 2008 graduate of Salem High School and also a JROTC cadet. He was assigned to the 797th Ordnance Company, 79th Ordnance Battalion at Fort Hood in Texas.

Few details about Lo's death were available until the Department of Defense's announcement late Monday. Until then, the military had only said a soldier was killed by a bomb explosion Friday.

His death comes just before the June 30 deadline in which all U.S. combat troops will be pulled out of urban areas in Iraq.

Lo is the 23rd New Hampshire resident to have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to iCasualties.org, a Web site dedicated to extensively tracking the deaths of U.S. military servicemen and women serving in Iraq.

The list also includes Nashua resident Robert Rooney, an Army National Guard sergeant who was killed in September 2003, and Merrimack resident Timothy Gibson, a Marine corporal who died in January 2005.

Lo was a memorable presence at Salem High School, where he took the JROTC program for two years.

"He impressed me as a young man with quiet confidence," Superintendent Michael Delahanty said. "He was kind, he was incredibly respectful. He was what you would want your own son to be like."

Lo was last home at Christmas.

Tom Puzzo, chief of Salem's JROTC program, said Lo made sure to call him while he was in town over the holidays and came to his home for dinner.

"We stayed in touch over the years," Puzzo said. "He was a great kid who came from a great family. He was totally involved in the program whether it was the drill team, the color guard. Whatever we did, Ed was there."

Puzzo said Lo was one of the top cadets in his division during his senior year.

"He was a fun-loving guy, but on the quiet side," Puzzo said. "Everybody liked him. He was easy to get along with and very loyal."

The Lo family immediately flew to Dover Air Force Base in Maryland on Saturday and attended a dignified transfer service there Sunday night, when Lo's body was removed from the aircraft that brought him from Iraq. The family returned to Salem yesterday afternoon. Lo's body is now in the hands of the Army's medical examiner's office, where it is expected to remain for about a week.

NEW HAMPSHIRE WAR DEAD

As of Tuesday, at least 4,315 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, including 28 from New Hampshire, according to an Associated Press count.

Massachusetts National Guard Sgt. Robert Rooney, 43, of Nashua, was killed in September 2003 in a forklift accident in Kuwait.

Army Sgt. Randy Rosenberg, 23, of Berlin, was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in January 2004.

Army National Guard Spc. Jeremiah Holmes, 27, was driving a truck west of Baghdad when he was killed by a roadside bomb in March, 2004. Holmes spent his childhood in New Hampshire but lived in North Berwick, Maine.

Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Richard Ferguson, 45, was killed in Iraq in April 2004 when his vehicle rolled over.

Army Spc. Jeremy Regnier, 22, of Littleton, was killed in October 2004 when his armored vehicle drove over a bomb during a patrol in Iraq.

Army National Guard Spc. Alan Burgess, of Landaff, 24, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in October 2004.

Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Brooks, 20, of Manchester, was killed in November 2004 while patrolling Baghdad after a bomb exploded near his Humvee.

Marine Cpl. Timothy Gibson, 23, of Merrimack, was on a transport helicopter when it crashed in western Iraq in January 2005, killing 30 Marines and one Navy medic.

Army Sgt. Angelo Lozada Jr., 36, of Nashua, died in a mortar and rocket attack in Iraq in April of 2005.

Navy SEAL Dan Healy, 36, of Exeter, was among 16 killed when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan in June 2005.

Marine Pfc. Matthew Bertolino, 20, of Hampstead, died in February 2006 when his vehicle overturned on a patrol in Afghanistan.

Army Pvt. George Roehl, 21, of Manchester, died in April 2006 when a roadside bomb exploded near his Bradley Fighting Vehicle and he and his unit were attacked in Iraq.

Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Moscillo, 21, of Salem, died in May 2006 when his Humvee hit a landmine in Iraq.

Army National Guard Pfc. Nicholas Cournoyer, 25, of Gilmanton, was killed in May 2006 by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Army Capt. Douglas DiCenzo, 30, of Plymouth was killed by a roadside bomb in May 2006 in Iraq.

Army Sgt. Russell Durgin, 23, of Henniker was killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan in June 2006.

Army medic Sgt. Daniel Gionet, 23, of Pelham was killed by an explosion that hit his tank in Iraq in June 2006.

Army Ranger Capt. Jonathan Grassbaugh, 25, of Hampstead, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in April 2007.

Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan McCaughn, 19, of Manchester, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in November 2006.

Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Nathan Hardy, 29, who grew up in Durham, was killed in Iraq in February 2008.

Army Spc. Toby Olsen, 28, of Manchester, was killed after a bomb went off near a Humvee in Iraq in January 2007.

Spc. Matthew Schneider, 23, of Gorham, died of a heart attack in Iraq in August 2006.

Army Pfc. Juctin McDaniel, 19, of Andover, died of non-combat related injuries in Iraq in December 2007.

Cpl. Nicholas Arvanitis, 22, of Salem, died after being shot in Iraq in October 2006. Army Spc. Justin Rollins, 22, of Newport, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in March 2007.

Army Spc. Matthew J. Stanley, 22, of Wolfeboro, was killed by an explosion in Iraq in March 2007.

National Guard medic Sgt. David Stelmat, 27, of Littleton, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in March 2008.

Army Staff Sgt. Edmond J. Lo, 23, of Salem, was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated while his team worked to neutralize it in Iraq in June 2009.