Peter Gerald Enos – Specialist, United States Army

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NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 309-04
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Apr 12, 2004

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Specialist Peter G. Enos, 24, of South Dartmouth, Massachuetts, died April 9, 2004, in Bayji, Iraq, when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his patrol vehicle.  Enos was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany.

            The incident is under investigation.

            For further information related to this release, contact Army Public Affairs at (703) 692-2000.

Another casualty in Iraq
16 April 2004
By Rich Harbert
MPG Newspapers

PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS: The town mourns yet another casualty from war-torn Iraq.

A South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, man, whose wife and child have lived with relatives in South Plymouth, died last week when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his patrol vehicle.

Specialist Peter G. Enos died Friday in Bayji, Iraq, just a week before his 25th birthday. Enos, a medic, is the third war casualty with local connections.

The only child of Joseph and Deborah Enos of South Dartmouth, Peter Enos joined the Army in November 2000. His wife, Shannon, and their 6-month-old baby boy have stayed with her family in South Plymouth while he served overseas. The army notified the family of Enos’s death Saturday.

In a statement to reporters, Shannon Enos said her husband remained committed to serving his country despite concerns about the recent rise in violence in Iraq. But Shannon Enos also expressed her own disapproval for the war effort.

“She spoke of how the situation had turned, how he was committed to his job and his country, but how all the killing of his fellow servicemen had put a strain on his view of the situation,” said Dartmouth Veteran’s Agent Shawn Goldstein, who attended the impromptu press conference at the Enos’s home Tuesday. “She stated that she didn’t approve of what was going on over there but understood that he was committed to doing what he felt he had to do.”

Goldstein said funeral arrangements would be private, for close friends and relatives only. Burial will be at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Enos was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany.

He was remembered at Dartmouth High School this week as a talented member of the school band who always aspired to a career in the army.

Bill Kingsland, director of music for the town of Dartmouth, said Enos played bass drum on the school marching band which participated in the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, Calif., during his senior year of high school in 1997.

Kingsland said Enos played in the school’s indoor percussion program as well.

“He liked to have a good time with his friends but he also made a big commitment to the program here,” Kingsland said. “He was a dependable kid who did all that he was asked to do.”

Kingsland said Enos’s interest in the military was well known among his peers in school.

Beside his photo in the 1997 school year, Enos listed his ambition to be an officer in an airborne-air assault unit.

“A coward dies a thousand deaths, a soldier dies but one – courage and fidelity,” his senior quote reads.

Enos is the second casualty with Plymouth connections this spring.

Marine Lance Corporal Jeffrey Burgess died while leading a convoy west of Baghdad last month. Sergeant First Class Robert Rooney, a long-time South Plymouth resident, died in a forklift accident in Kuwait last fall as his unit returned from a tour in Iraq.

As of Tuesday morning, the Department of Defense reported 678 military deaths in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Of those, 540 fatalities occurred since the end of combat operations in April 2003.

Full military honors for Mass. soldier who died in Iraq
April 26, 2004

A Massachusetts soldier who died in Iraq will be buried with full military honors today at Arlington National Cemetery.

Sergeant Peter Enos was killed April ninth when his patrol vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in the town of Bayji.

His widow, Shannon Enos, told the Standard Times of New Bedford that it was her husband’s wish to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Peter Enos was a 1997 graduate of Dartmouth High School who would have turned 25 on April 17th. In addition to his wife, he left behind a six-month-old son.

The Army medic was posthumously promoted to sergeant after his death.

ENOS

U.S. Army Spc. Peter G. Enos holds his son, Marcus Enos, while standing next to his wife
Shannon, in this February 2004 family photo in Boston, prior to his departure to Iraq.

Soldier’s widow prepares for rites
Courtesy of the Standard-Times

In keeping with the wishes he confided to his wife, Sergeant Peter Gerald Enos, a 24-year-old Army medic who was killed April 9, 2004, in Iraq, will be laid to rest today in Arlington National Cemetery.

 Shannon Enos said in an interview last week that it was her late husband’s wish to be buried there. “It was what he wanted,” she said. “It’s a good way to honor him. I’m taking each day as it comes, trying to be true to his memory.”

Sergeant Enos, who was promoted to Sergeant posthumously, died in Bayji, Iraq, about 120 miles north of Baghdad, when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his patrol vehicle.

Sergeant Enos, a 1997 graduate of Dartmouth High School, would have turned 25 on April 17, 2004.

His burial will be at 1 p.m.

Barbara Owens, media chief for Arlington National Cemetery, said last week that any U.S. serviceman who dies in combat can be buried there.

Sergeant Enos is the second SouthCoast serviceman to be killed in Iraq.

Sergeant Joseph M. Camara, 40, a member of the Rhode Island National Guard’s 115th Military Police Company, and a New Bedford police officer, died September 1, 2003, when his humvee struck a land mine.

Ms. Owens said Sergeant Enos will be buried with standard military honors, which include a casket team, firing party, a bugler and a flag over the coffin. Only officers are buried with full military honors. A caisson or hearse will arrive and the casket team will remove the flag-draped casket and walk to the grave site, led by the Chaplain.
The chaplain will conduct the service, which will be followed by “a three-round volley,” or a seven-member firing party, each firing three shots into the air. When the rifle volley is complete, a bugler will play taps, and the casket team will fold the flag and present it to the fallen soldier’s wife.

Ms. Owens said Sergeant Enos will receive the Bronze Star for valor in battle, the Purple Heart and the Combat Medical Badge for outstanding medical service during battle, and the awards will be presented to his widow.

Mrs. Enos, who has been staying in Dartmouth with her in-laws, Gerald and Deborah (Frost) Enos, said she is taking one day at a time as she raises their son, 6-month-old Marcus.

“I love being a mom,” she said. “I absolutely love being a mom. I’m so happy Peter and I got the chance to have the experience of being parents together. Every day, I notice something new (with Marcus). I love watching him grow up.”

Mrs. Enos, who spoke out against the war after her husband’s death, said she supports the troops but is opposed to the war in Iraq. She emphasized that those sentiments are her views and she will keep Peter’s feelings private. “His thoughts are his thoughts. My thoughts are my thoughts,” she said.

Her poise and maturity, especially for someone only 22, has impressed everyone, including her in-laws.

“She’s a very special lady,” Deborah Enos said of her daughter-in-law. The two women said they have received many cards and letters from people across the country offering their sympathies and condolences. Cards and letters have been received from servicemen, members of Peter’s unit, the Army’s 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany, and from people in Dartmouth.

 “The community has been great. It has been a tremendous response,” Shannon said.

pgenos-funeral-service-01

ENOS, PETER GERALD

  • SGT   US ARMY
  • IRAQ
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 04/17/1979
  • DATE OF DEATH: 04/09/2004
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 7976
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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