Freedom Remembered

Born: August 29, 1984
Died: June 9, 2007 in Germany

Sgt. Jonathan R. Gilbert was an Old Town, Idaho native and member of the Cherokee Nation. ‘Rusty’ was preparing for his second Iraq tour and had already served in Mosul from 2004 to 2005 with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division before it reflagged as 2nd Cav in Germany. He survived a mortar attack in Iraq, and the Purple Heart is among his many decorations and medals. He volunteered to serve at a time when he knew he could go into harm’s way often. People are questioning now why we fight; Sgt. Gilbert never questioned why we fight, but he fought for the rights of people to question that fight. He loved the War Craft computer game, bowling and bar hopping with his mates. He is survived by his parents, brothers Billy and Smokey and sister Michelle. He died at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at age 22 after he was shot during predeployment training at Grafenwöhr Training Area on May 30.

Burial is at Newport Cemetery in Newport, Washington

The Sgt Jonathan Russell Gilbert by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.