Big Island native among four civilians killed in Iraq

By Janis L. Magin
Associated Press

The last victim identified in the attack on four civilians in Iraq this week was a Big Island native who joined the military out of high school and returned to the Hamakua Coast several years ago after a career as an Army Ranger.

His family was informed late yesterday that Wesley J. Batalona was one of the four American civilian contractors killed in Fallujah, Iraq, said his older sister, Uilani Shibata of Honoka'a, today.

Batalona, 48; Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, 32; Michael Teague, 38, and Scott Helvenston, 38, were killed in an ambush on Wednesday, their charred bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets. The contractors were working for Blackwater Security Consulting when their vehicle was hit by rocket-propelled grenades.

Shibata said Batalona's wife, June, was told of her husband's death while she was at work late yesterday.

"I had a phone call from my sister-in-law's brother, because one of the military guys had to go down to her working place and tell her," Shibata said in a telephone interview.

Batalona had worked security at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Kohala Coast before going to Iraq this year.

"I told him not to go," Shibata said.

Batalona was one of 10 children, and Shibata said she and her husband raised him until he joined the Army in 1974 after graduating from Honokaa High School, where he was student body president.

"We gave him two choices: either go to school and become a policeman or join the service," she said. "My husband was in the airborne, and he pretty much looked up to my husband."

Batalona was stationed for much of his career in Georgia, where his daughter now goes to college, Shibata said.

"He loved his family very much, his wife and his daughter," she said.

Blackwater Security, based in Moyock, N.C., provides security training and guard services to customers around the world. President Gary Jackson and two other company leaders are former Navy SEAL commandos.

A statement on the company's Web site said officials were grieving for the employees.

"Our tasks are dangerous, and while we feel sadness for our fallen colleagues, we also feel pride and satisfaction that we are making a difference for the people of Iraq," the statement said.