CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A 39-year-old Guam National Guard soldier died Monday from injuries after his motorcycle collided with a car on Guam.
Sgt. Peter Paul Nartia, who was named the U.S. Army Pacific Command’s Soldier of the Year in 1996, was struck by a car in the village of Harmon about 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to Guam media reports. He was rushed to Guam Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He is the third Guam guardsman to die this month.
Sgt. Christopher Fernandez and Sgt. Gregory Fejeran were killed March 5 in a vehicle accident in the Horn of Africa in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The accident was not the result of hostile action, according to the Guam National Guard.
“This is another tremendous loss to our Guam National Guard family,” Maj. Gen. Donald J. Goldhorn, the Guam National Guard adjutant general, was quoted as saying in the Pacific Daily News. “Nartia was an excellent citizen-soldier who served our island and his country with distinction. He will be sorely missed by the men and women of the Guam National Guard.”
According to the Congressional Record, Nartia, a 1986 graduate of Guam’s John F. Kennedy High School, joined the Guam Army National Guard in July 1991 and was the first Guam Guardsman to win the Pacific Command competition.
