Emily (Tatum) Perez
U.S. Army, 2005-2006, Operation Iraqi Freedom

Emily (Tatum) Perez
U.S. Army, 2005-2006, Operation Iraqi Freedom

Emily (Tatum) Perez, one of two children born into a military family, lived much of her youth in Germany. She returned to the United States in 1998, graduating from high school in Maryland in 2001. Realizing her life-long dream of becoming a soldier, Perez was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she continued to excel. She was in the top ten percent of her class and a medal-winning athlete. She was the first minority female Corps Command Sergeant Major in the history of the Academy. Perez graduated in May 2005 and commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. She was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, as a medical service officer with the 204th Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. In December 2005, Perez deployed to Iraq with her unit. On September 12, 2006, 23-year-old Second Lieutenant Emily (Tatum) Perez was killed when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonated near her Humvee in Al Kifl, Iraq. Joe Rogers, her assistant track coach at West Point, said of Emily, “She was just the kind of kid you want your own children to be like.”