New Jersey EMT Killed In Iraqi Combat

MINE HILL -- Ryan Doltz was remembered by his family Tuesday as a man full of life and mischief, someone who gladly accepted challenges and was so dedicated to his Morristown-based National Guard unit that he shook off two broken heels to join his fellow soldiers in Iraq.

Army Spc. Doltz, 26, was one of four members of the 3rd Battalion of the 112th Field Artillery killed in combat last weekend. He was the second Morris County resident to die in combat in Iraq. His unit was called to active duty last year and Doltz arrived in Iraq on Good Friday.

"He was a true citizen-soldier," said his mother, Cheryl Doltz, at a news conference outside the Mine Hill Municipal Building Tuesday afternoon. "Ryan Edward Doltz was an American patriot in the truest sense of the word. He was willing to put his own hopes and dreams on hold because he felt that his country needed him.

"He never wavered in his devotion to his country, his family and his alma maters, Dover High School and the Virginia Military Institute. He will be sorely missed by his family, friends and Brother Rats of the VMI Class of 2000."

In their first public statements since learning of their son's death Saturday, the Doltz family thanked the Mine Hill community, the New Jersey National Guard and friends for their support.

"Mine Hill is a community like no other in the world," Cheryl Doltz said, citing among other efforts, the work that 40 or 50 community members performed on the driveway and front lawn of the Doltz home Monday night.

Ernest Fraser of Mine Hill was one of those volunteers. He said members of the local fire, police and rescue squads, other residents and a crew from the Meier Stone Co. of Mount Olive laid a walkway and landscaped the yard, because they felt the need to help.

Ryan Doltz was a certified emergency medical technician and a member of the Mine Hill First Aid Squad since 2002, when he returned from Virginia, where he also had been a certified EMT. At the time of his recent deployment, he was working in New York for MoreTrench American Corp., the engineering firm that built the slurry wall at the World Trade Center .

Cheryl Doltz said the family will establish a scholarship fund in their son's name. Details will be released later, she said.

Doltz and Sgt. Humberto Timoteo, 25, of Newark were killed Saturday when a roadside bomb hit their armored vehicle. Their unit was providing security for a convoy when they were killed.

"The loss of a single soldier is difficult to the National Guard family and community," said Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a National Guard spokeswoman. "It is inconceivable that we have had to face this many deaths in such a short period of time."

Two other members of the unit, Sgt. Frank Carvill, 51, of Carlstadt, and Spc. Christopher Duffy, 26, of Brick, were killed Friday in an ambush. Three other soldiers from the unit were injured in Friday's attack.

The first Morris County casualty in Iraq was Marine 2nd Lt. John Thomas "J.T." Wroblewski of Jefferson, who was killed in April. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Cheryl Doltz said she received a telephone call from the Wroblewski family.

Services for Doltz are pending, family members said.

Doltz was the third VMI graduate to die in Iraq since October, said college spokesman Lt. Col. Stewart MacInnis, who said he spent Monday contacting VMI alumni with news of Doltz's death.

Greg Doltz said his brother lived for the ideals represented by the VMI cadet training and the military code of honor, service, respect and truth.

"He followed his dream," Greg Doltz said.

Television watchers were given a glimpse life at VMI in 1998 when Norelco filmed a shaver commercial at the school using four cadets, including Doltz, MacInnis said.

His mother recalled the commercial.

"Friends will remember him as 'Babyface' from a closing scene in a 1998 Norelco commercial he filmed with other cadets from VMI," she said.