Michael S. Zyla

Friday, December 16 2005 @ 09:52 PM MST

www.oregonlive.com -- A soldier with Oregon ties was one of four killed in Iraq on Tuesday when an improvised explosive device exploded near their Humvee during combat operations.

Staff Sgt. Michael S. Zyla, 32, of Elgin and the others were assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Riley, Kan. Zyla was on his second tour of duty in Iraq.



"Staff Sergeant Zyla served his country and his state with honor and distinction. I know that the town of Elgin, as well as the state of Oregon, mourns with me today. We will keep his family and friends in our thoughts and prayers," said Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who said that flags on public institutions will fly at half staff on Monday, Dec. 19, in Zyla's honor.

Zyla grew up in Michigan and Colorado, his family said. He moved to La Grande in the mid-1990s after serving in the U.S. Marines and worked for Fleetwood Travel Trailers of Oregon Inc., a trailer manufacturer.

He met and married Teresa Campbell of Elgin. They moved to Elgin, where he worked at a Boise Cascade sawmill from 1998 to 2002, said his mother-in-law, Doree Hightower of Elgin.

Zyla had served with the Oregon National Guard's 3rd Battalion 116th Cavalry based in La Grande. He joined the Army in 2002, and he and his wife moved to Marion, Kan., near Fort Riley.

He is the 59th military person with strong ties to Oregon and Southwest Washington to die in Iraq, Pakistan or Afghanistan.

"He was just a nice person, a happy person," Hightower said. "He loved cars and mechanics. He was an avid hunter and fisherman."

Survivors include his wife; stepdaughter, Emmy, 8; son, Mikey, 6; his mother, Irene Hogan, and stepfather, Dennis Hogan, of Boise; Hightower and her husband Bill Hightower; and a brother, James Zyla of Florida.

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