The Pentagon said Pfc. Aaron J. Ward was shot as he and others were conducting a cordon and search operation.

Ward, 19, of San Jacinto, Calif., was assigned to the 170th Military Police Company, the Pentagon said in a news release.

The military provided few other details about the engagement. The U.S. military command in Iraq, in a release Wednesday, said only that a soldier assigned to the Multi-National Force-West was killed while on patrol in Anbar.

Officials did not indicate more specifically where the attack occurred. Anbar is the largest province in Iraq, covering the sprawling western desert, and includes the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah.

Ward’s brief service record indicated he was at Fort Lewis only a short time before he was sent to join his unit in Iraq. The company deployed in May 2007.

He enlisted in April 2007 and went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., that July, after graduating from high school.

He arrived at Fort Lewis in January and went to Iraq at some point after additional training, a post spokeswoman said.

Ward was posthumously promoted from the rank of private.

He is the seventh soldier from his company to die, but the first on this deployment. The MP company is 12 months into a 15-month tour.

Ward is the 182nd service member from Fort Lewis to die in the Iraq war.

A memorial ceremony has been tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. May 21.

Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921

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