Year passes with no word on war death

[jpak]

Year passes with no word on war death

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/york/040709reservist.shtml

More than one year after his death along a highway near Baghdad, 1st Sgt. Christopher Coffin's wife and family are still waiting for an official explanation of what happened.

Members of Maine's congressional delegation expressed frustration this week that the U.S. Army has yet to complete an investigation into the death of the Kennebunk reservist. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Rep. Tom Allen all intend to renew pressure on the Army to issue a report as quickly as possible, their offices say.

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Coffin, 51, was a member of the 352nd Civil Affairs Command. On July 1, 2003, the Humvee he was riding in crashed into a ditch along a highway while leaving Baghdad. He became the fifth soldier with Maine ties to die in Iraq.

A press release from Coffin's unit stated he died after the Humvee swerved to avoid a civilian vehicle. But U.S. Central Command had reported the day before the statement was released that a member of Coffin's unit was killed July 1 when his convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device. The U.S. Central Command report did not name Coffin, but he was the only member of the unit to die that day.

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