Date: 5/22/2005
Rank: Sergeant
Branch: U.S. Army
Operation: Operation Iraqi Freedom
John Ogburn III was born July 19, 1958 in Ontario, Oregon. He was an athletic young man who participated in a number of sports in high school including football, wrestling, and track. After his graduation, John pursued a two-year Social Sciences degree at Treasure Valley Community College, before taking a one-year break to do geological field work at Delmar Silver Mine in Idaho’s Owyhee Mountains. He returned to college the following year, transferring to the University of Oregon. He spent two years at U of O majoring in Social Science and minoring in geology.
Ogburn enlisted in the Oregon Army National Guard as an Artillery Surveyor (82C) in 1989, transferred to the Idaho Army National Guard in 1996 where he worked as a member of the fire support echelon and S3, then transferred back to the Oregon Army National Guard in 2001.
He died on May 22nd, 2005 in northern Iraq when his Humvee was involved in a rollover accident.