Schofield soldier, 20, killed in Iraq
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
On her son's 21st birthday yesterday, Susan Moncure was picking out his casket.
Pfc. Stephen A. Castellano, an infantryman assigned to Company C of the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, out of Schofield Barracks, was killed in Mosul, Iraq, on Friday.
Castellano
The circumstances around Castellano's death were unclear. The Pentagon said Castellano died from a noncombatirelated injury.
But his uncle Tim Moncure said the Army told the family that Cas-
tellano and another soldier were in a sniper position, were discovered and entered a firefight. Castellano was shot in the head, the uncle said.
"We're pretty broken up," said Susan Moncure, who lives in Long Beach, Calif. The last time she had seen her son was for two weeks leave at Thanksgiving.
The 1-14 "Golden Dragons" are expected to leave Iraq in a few weeks after a year spent crisscrossing the country, fighting Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi army in Najaf in April, and serving in Kirkuk, Samarra, and Mosul.
The battalion was so traveled, soldiers dubbed their deployment the Golden Dragons Iraq Tour 2004. Schofield Barracks officials said 1-14 had not lost a soldier until now.
Castellano, who was single, joined the Army a short time after graduating from high school, his uncle said. Castellano entered the Army on Feb. 11, 2003, from Long Beach and arrived in Hawai'i in April 2003.
"He was a good kid; he read his Bible a lot," said Tim Moncure, who also lives in Long Beach. "You know, we're a military family. His mom was in the Navy, and his dad was in the Marine Corps.
"We loved him."
Castellano will be buried Friday at All Souls Cemetery in Long Beach.
A total of 77 soldiers, Marines and sailors with ties to Hawai'i have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003. The largest loss came Jan. 26, when 26 Hawai'i Marines and a sailor died in the crash of a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter in western Iraq. The crash killed all 31 aboard.
Thirteen soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division (Light) have been killed in Iraq, and 13 have died in Afghanistan.
Nearly 1,000 Schofield soldiers out of 5,200 have returned from duty in Iraq.
Today, 61 soldiers with the 725th Main Support Battalion returning to Hawai'i are the first of 5,800 Schofield soldiers redeploying from Afghanistan. The rest are expected back March through April.
Meanwhile, about 3,600 National Guard and Reserve soldiers with Hawai'i's 29th Separate Infantry Brigade have landed in the deserts of Kuwait in preparation for a year of duty in the Baghdad and Balad areas of Iraq.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
