Oklahoma Soldier Killed In Iraq

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Spc. Ryan Scott Michael Dallam, a third-generation Army soldier from Norman, has died while serving in Iraq, his father said Monday. Dallam, 24, died Friday in Baghdad when the Humvee he was driving hit an improvised explosive device, said his father, Scott Dallam. Two other soldiers also died in the blast, he said.

Late Monday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed Ryan Dallam as a war casualty. Army Cpl. Ryan Scott Dallam was remembered during a memorial service attended by more than 200 people at First Christian Church. A funeral Mass is planned at 9 a.m. Monday at Fort Sill in Lawton, the Rev. David Spain said. Dallam, 24, of Norman, was killed April 6 in Baghdad, along with Capt. Anthony Palermo, 26, of Brockton, Mass., and Pvt. Damian Lopez Rodriguez of Tucson, Ariz.

The three soldiers were assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany, that deployed to Iraq in September.

Scott Dallam said he learned of the details of his son's death by speaking with his son's battalion and company commanders.

Dallam was a “quiet hero” who showed valor by taking on a dangerous nighttime assignment if it meant the lives of others would be saved, Rev. David Spain said.
“He was a child of God, a son, a brother, and a friend,” Spain said.

Dallam was born on Sept. 22, 1982, in Norman and lived in Oklahoma for a few years until his parents divorced. He then went to live with his mother, Laura, at Show Low, Ariz., where she taught school at an Indian reservation.

After he graduated from high school in 2002, he returned to Oklahoma to live at Fort Sill with his father, retired Army Lt. Col. Scott Dallam. After his father retired in 2003, the family returned to Norman, where Ryan Dallam enlisted in the Army.

Burial Fort Still National Cemetery, Elgin, Comanche County, Oklahoma.