2nd Lt Emily Jazmin Tatum Perez
Born: February 19, 1983 in Heidelberg, Germany
Died: September 12, 2006 in AL Kifl, Iraq
2nd Lt. Emily J.T. Perez, grew up in a military family and lived in many places. Her family is from Belton, Texas and she lived in Germany but went to high school in Maryland. With that background, she had the military bearing and discipline befitting a West Point graduate and Army officer. She was also smart as a whip, athletically gifted, deeply religious and sang in the military academy’s gospel choir. She was a constant learner, always eager for something to learn and share with someone. Born in Germany, where her father was stationed in the Army, Emily attended elementary schools in Germany. Her family moved to Prince George’s County where she attended and graduated from Oxon High School in 2001. While there she was on the track team. Emily arrived at West Point as an accomplished high school sprinter and later became a top triple jumper after volunteering to fill a roster need. She really enjoyed being the person that was in charge. If there was a parade and track meet on the same day, the highlight of her day was probably leading the parade. Although she was from a military family, she was the first to attend a military academy. At West Point, she was the first black woman to serve as corps commander sergeant major, and finished academically in the top 10 percent of her class. After graduating from West Point in 2005, Emily began her assignment at Fort Hood and was sent to Iraq shortly thereafter. She regularly kept in touch with her family, but was particularly communicative with her father because they could both talk military. Besides her parents, survivors include a brother, Kevyn, and her maternal and paternal grandmothers. She died at age 23 of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near her Humvee during combat operations in Kifl, Iraq.
Army
204th Support Battalion
2nd Brigade
4th Infantry Division
Fort Hood, Texas
Burial is at United States Military Academy Post Cemetery in West Point, New York – Sec XXXVI, Row B grave 064F
The 2nd Lt Emily Jazmin Tatum Perez by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
