US identifies soldier killed destroying downed Iranian drone in Iraq

Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton died during controlled detonation, bringing total of US personnel killed in war to 17

The US military has identified an army soldier killed recently during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone in Iraq as Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton, of Fayetteville, North Carolina.

According to a press release from the US defense department on Tuesday morning, the 30-year-old Swinton was supporting overseas contingency operations in Iraq – and he was “killed in action during a controlled detonation of a downed One-Way Unmanned Aerial System” on Saturday at Erbil airbase in northern Iraq.

The announcement follows the identification a day earlier of two other soldiers killed during the US war with Iran. First Lt Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, died in Jordan while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks, the department said.

The latest deaths brings to 17 the number of US service personnel killed in the war, which began in February with US military strikes on Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure.

Hundreds of service members have been injured, including nearly 100 after an escalation of the conflict over the previous two weeks in which Tehran has launched reprisal raids for consecutive nights of US bombing.

An earlier statement from US Central Command (Centcom) gave more details of the incident in which Swinton was killed and another service member wounded. According to the release, there was “a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone”.

The statement said that the second service member was treated for a minor injury.

Swinton enlisted in the army as an air defense early warning system operator in 2017. He was assigned to the army’s air and missile defense command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, according to information supplied to the Military Times .

“Sgt Swinton was an experienced noncommissioned officer who took great pride in his work and the people around him,” Brig Gen John L Dawber, commanding general of 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, said in a statement.

“He answered the call to duty with courage, honor, and selfless dedication.”

A Facebook post on Sunday by Swinton’s widow, Mia Gonzalez-Swinton, featured a photograph of her husband holding a young girl.

“I didn’t think this would be the last time I ever saw you,” she wrote. “I have no words.

“I was informed this morning that my husband, Michael, was killed while serving in Iraq . I’m navigating how to process this so please bear with me.”