Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert E. Rooney
Death: Sep 25, 2003
" of Nashua N.H.; assigned to the 379th Engineer Company U.S. Army National Guard based in Bourne Mass.; Died Sept. 25 at Shuabai Port Kuwait when he was struck by a forklift. Sgt. 1st Class Robert Rooney's passion was following the NASCAR circuit and his favorite driver Jeff Gordon. While he was stationed in Kuwait a friend taped the races and sent them to him. ""Jeff Gordon was his idol said his wife, Diane Rooney. He has so much (Gordon) stuff in this house it's not funny. That's pretty much all we would buy him for Christmas."" Rooney43 was killed Sept. 25 in a forklift accident in Kuwait where he had been stationed with his Massachusetts National Guard unit which was based in Bourne Mass. A longtime resident of Plymouth Mass. Rooney was deployed with his unit to Kuwait in January. Before that he worked at Otis Air Force Base and Camp Edwards both on Cape Cod most recently as an operational maintenance shop chief. Besides his wife survivors include two sons and a daughter. — Associated Press Operation Iraqi Freedom"