Location: 259
Date: 8/6/2003
Rank: Specialist
Branch: U.S. Army
Operation: Operation Iraqi Freedom
SPC Zeferino E. Colunga, assigned to 4th Squadron, 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment, died on August 6, 2003, from acute leukemia. He was initially evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq on August 4, 2003, than evacuated to Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center and later to Homburg University Hospital in Germany for further evaluation. He remained at Homburg until his death. While he was in the Middle East, Pfc. Zeferino E. Colunga called his family in Bellville, Texas, once a week and called his sister on her birthday in May and his mother on her birthday in June. So they grew worried when he failed to call his father on his birthday on Aug. 2. They soon learned he was gravely ill with acute leukemia. The 20-year-old Colunga, who was stationed at Fort Polk, died Aug. 6 at a hospital in Germany. Nicknamed “Cowboy” because of a childhood habit of wearing a cowboy hat while riding a stick horse, Colunga joined the military after graduating from high school and planned to make it a career. “He wanted everybody to be proud of him,” said his sister, Teresa Colunga. “He had a lot of fun doing it.”