16 July 2011

US Army Corporal Raphael Arruda, from South Ogden, Utah, died in Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Saturday 16th July 2011. Cpl. Arruda, age 21, was patrolling in a mine-resistant vehicle when it was struck by a roadside bomb. He died as a result of the blunt force trauma caused by the blast.

His family were told of his death on Sunday. His father, however, was in the family’s native country of Brazil Sunday, tending to affairs in the wake of his own mother’s death less than two weeks ago

Cpl. Arruda was a combat engineer, on his first deployment to Afghanistan. He would have celebrated his 22nd birthday on 23rd July.

His Facebook page said he attended Bonneville High School in Ogden in 2007-2008 and that he joined the U.S. Army in 2008.