21st TSC mourns fallen Soldier

***image1***Members of the 1st Cargo Transfer Company paid their respects to Spc. Daniel Zizumbo, or “Z” as they fondly remembered him, during a memorial March 6 at Daenner Chapel in Kaiserslautern.

Specialist Zizumbo, 27, of Chicago, died Feb. 27 in Bagram, Afghanistan, as a result of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device, according to a Department of Defense release. He was assigned to the 1st CTC, 191st Ordnance Battalion, 29th Support Group.

To his fellow Soldiers and friends, Specialist Zizumbo was a special Soldier with a can-do attitude who’d often end conversations with, “Roger, that!”

“I remember Specialist Zizumbo as being a person with pride and integrity and as a Soldier who believed in what he was doing,” Spc. Jessica Jones said as she delivered a tribute to her friend. “Because he was a good Soldier performing his everyday duties, we are here to mourn his loss. I and my fellow comrades owe him a debt of gratitude that we can never repay.”

Maj. Curtis Johnson, 1st CTC commander, said Specialist Zizumbo was an enthusiastic hard worker who embraced the idea of serving in Afghanistan when he learned he would deploy.

“Like the true warrior he was, he accepted the news with great honor and a desire to have the opportunity to fight for freedom,” Major Johnson said. “I am honored to have had a Soldier like Specialist Zizumbo serving in my command.”

Specialist Zizumbo was deployed to Bagram Air Base in June 2006 where he was assigned to augment a movement control team at the base’s entry control point. On Feb. 27, a suicide bomber attacked the U.S. base while Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting servicemembers there.

Five people were killed after the attacker detonated his explosives, according to a Combined Joint Task Force 76 news release. 

Those killed in the attack were Specialist Zizumbo, a Korean servicemember, one civilian contractor, and two laborers awaiting entry to the base. Three Afghan citizens, including a 12 year-old boy, died of their wounds at a base medical treatment facility.