It’s always a sad day when a soldier dies in service to his country, but it is especially sad for me when it’s a fellow Iowan, as it was this week when Captain Daniel Whitten of rural Des Moines died as a result of wounds suffered from an IED blast in Zabul province.
CPT Whitten was a 1999 graduate of Johnston High School and a 2004 graduate of West Point, where he received his commission as an Infantry officer in the 82nd Airborne Division. CPT Whitten was a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School and was in command of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) at the time of his death. Few other details of his death are known at this time.
Johnston High School Associate Principal Jerry Stratton had this to say of his former student:
“He was the kid who was always doing the right thing. He always stood by his values, and was true to his family and himself. He was the kind of young man who you hoped your own kids would grow up to represent,” said Stratton, who acknowledged he was struggling today to come to grips with Whitten’s death.
” When I think about kids who are thinking about going into the military, the one thing about Dan is that I always trusted his character as a person who I would want representing our country,” Stratton said.
The current deployment to Afghanistan was the third time CPT Whitten had deployed in support of the current war on terror, his second to Afghanistan, making for 3 combat deployments in less than 6 years. He leaves behind a wife, parents and countless others who are grateful for his selfless sacrifice.
Godspeed, CPT Whitten. And thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
[...] 11, 2010 by GMH Last week, Iowa lost a true hero to combat in CPT Daniel [...]