Birth name Frances Marie Benitez Name Frances Vega Nickname(s) "That Girl Benitez" Battles and wars Iraq War | Years of service 2001-2003 Rank Specialist | |
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Born September 2, 1983
San Francisco, California, U.S. ( 1983-09-02 ) Buried at Puerto Rico National Cemetery, Bayamon, Puerto Rico, U.S. Allegiance United States of America Died November 2, 2003, Fallujah, Iraq Place of burial Puerto Rico National Cemetery, Bayamon, Puerto Rico Unit 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) | ||
Service/branch United States Army | ||
Frances Marie Vega (September 2, 1983 – November 2, 2003) was a United States Army soldier who was killed in the Iraq War. She is the first female soldier of Puerto Rican descent to have died in combat in the Iraq War.
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Early life and education
Vega was born in San Francisco, California into a military family. Her father was stationed there as a member of the United States Army. After her father retired from the U.S. Army the family moved and settled in Puerto Rico where she continued her education at Antilles High School at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico and graduated in 2000.
Influenced by her military background and by the aftermath of the September 11 attacks she decided to enlisted in the U.S. Army, where she met her future husband and was married. Vega was assigned to the 151st Adjutant General Postal Detachment 3 at Fort Hood, Texas. She was deployed to Iraq as part of the Global War on Terrorism.
Death
On November 2, 2003, a surface-to-air missile was fired by insurgents in al Fallujah and it hit the Chinook helicopter that Vega was in. She was one of 16 soldiers who were killed in the crash that followed.
Vega was buried in the Section L, Row 0, Site 7 of the Puerto Rico National Cemetery located in the city of Bayamon, Puerto Rico with full military honors and was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star for bravery and a Purple Heart Medal.
Legacy
The post office on Camp Victory North, located in Baghdad, Iraq, was renamed the Frances M. Vega Army Post Office in a dedication ceremony in 2005. Her name along with the others who have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, was engraved on the "El Monumento de la Recordación" (English: Monument of Remembrance), dedicated to Puerto Rico's fallen soldiers and situated in front of the Capitol Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico and unveiled by Puerto Rico Senate President Kenneth McClintock and P.R. National Guard Adjutant General Col. David Carrión on Memorial Day, 2007. The Main Gate at Fort Buchanan Army Base was named the SPC Frances M. Vega gate in her honor.
Vega is also listed on the 13th Sustainment Command memorial, dedicated at Fort Hood, Texas on September 17, 2010. She is listed #4 of 106 total names of the soldiers who served with the 13th Sustainment Command (formerly known as the 13th Corps Support Command).