The Danish Battalion were thursday evening contributing to an operation, when the camp was struck by missiles and mortars. Martin Hjort, 20, was gravely injured. {Ed note: Joergen Christian Nyholm (company commander) corrects this by saying Martin Hjorth was killed in action and not by indirect fire.] The soldier was evacuated by helicopter to the British field hospital where he died from his injuries.
According to the family Martin asked to go to Iraq, however, his views had changed after arriving in the country. He constantly wrote to his family, who reside in Sjaelland. He had considered asking for a previous deployment to Iraq. Once in country there was no convenient or harmless task. He felt , that he could do a many jobs, so readily vollunteered to do most things.
The fallen soldier was frequently contacted by his parents and one of his sisters. According to the family, Martin was an affectionate human being. They had been able to keep in contact via e-mails and SMS over the phone.
