WEGORZEWO, POLAND CPL, 1ST ARTILLERY BRIGADE 07/29/2004, NORTH OF HILLAH, IRAQ
POLISH MILITARY PERSONNEL IN THE INTERNATIONAL STABILIZATION FORCES IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ
Senior CPL Marcin Rutkowski, 24, a soldier in the Polish Army was killed when rebels set off a series of roadside bombs as the Polish troops were on routine patrol in south-central Iraq on a road between Hillah and Baghdad, Iraq on July 29, 2004.
The death of Corporal Marcin Rutkowski, from the northern Polish town of Wegorzewo, raises Poland’s military death toll in Iraq to seven.
The 24-year old served in the artillery and is survived by a wife and a three-year-old son, the Polish news agency PAP reported.
Senior CPL Marcin Rutkowski was born in 1980 in Sroków. He began his military service in 2002 in the 1st Masurian Artillery Brigade in Węgorzewo as a topographer. In 2003, he volunteered to serve the overtime and became the commander of the topographic team in 8 rocket artillery batteries.
In 2004, he volunteered for the third shift to PKW Iraq. On July 29, 2004, next to a patrol of Polish soldiers crossing the Babylon-Baghdad road, a remote-controlled mine trap was detonated. As a result of the explosion, CPL Rutkowski died.
Marcin Rutkowski was posthumously promoted to Senior Corporal and decorated by the President of the Republic of Poland with the Cross of Merit for Bravery.
He was awarded with an entry in the Honor Book of the Minister of National Defense – for courage and bravery during the implementation of tasks in PKW Iraq.