Army Capt. Leif E. Nott

Friendly fire

His father was Army, so Leif Nott was born and raised in Europe. He spoke five languages and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 2000. He met his wife in Bible study.

Leif, 24, died July 30, 2003, in Balad Ruz, Iraq. The Army reported that he had died from wounds received from hostile file. He was promoted to captain and awarded the Bronze Star posthumously.

A year later, a Washington Post investigation found that he was accidentally shot and killed by friendly fire.

On that night, Leif was leading a four-man team to investigate an attack on his troop headquarters. His Bradley vehicles were redeployed to another attack and, as the team walked the prisoners back, they were mistaken for hostiles, the Post reported. Leif was killed almost instantly. Six others were shot or wounded, including the three prisoners.

Leif was the fifth Wyoming man killed in Iraq in 2003, a year the Associate Press named the war’s toll on our servicemen as Wyoming’s top news story. His parents retired in Wyoming, and he is buried in Cheyenne Memorial Gardens.