Posted on Wed, Nov. 02, 2005

Two soldiers from California National Guard killed in Iraq

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Two California Army National Guard soldiers were killed in Iraq when their Humvee hit a roadside bomb while taking school supplies and gifts to local children.

Capt. Raymond D. Hill, 39, of Turlock, and Sgt. Shakere T. Guy, 23, of Pomona, were killed in Baghdad on Saturday, said Lt. Toni Gray, a spokeswoman for the National Guard.

Both soldiers were part of the California Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 184th Regiment in Modesto.

Hill, who is survived by his wife and two children, was serving as a public information officer, Gray said.

Guy, a native Jamaican who emigrated to California, was an infantryman, Gray said.

The lieutenant said Hill's remains would be flown to Sacramento on Sunday, but it hadn't been decided when or where Guy would be repatriated. Memorial services would be sometime next week, Gray said.

The deaths put at 19 the number of California guardsmen killed since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, Gray said.

Nationally, more than 2,000 members of the U.S. military have died in Iraq.