Navy hospitalman from Arizona killed in rollover crash in Iraq

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

PHOENIX - A 20-year-old Navy hospitalman from Arizona who was serving with the 2nd Marine Division near Baghdad has been killed in Iraq, authorities said.

 

Robert "Nathan" Martens, 20, of Queen Creek, died Tuesday after he was injured in a Humvee rollover crash in Al Qaim, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Wednesday.

 

More than 50 soldiers with ties to Arizona have been killed in Iraq.

 

Martens attended Hospital Corpsman school in Great Lakes, Ill., before he trained at the Field Medical Service School in Camp Lejeune, N.C., and was then assigned to the 2nd Marine Division in December 2004.

 

He is survived by his wife, Erin, and their 10-month-old daughter, Riley Jo, and several other family members in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

 

Martens was the son-in-law of Buckeye Police Chief Dan Saban.

 

"Please continue to pray for Erin, Riley Jo, Nathan's family and ours," Saban said in a statement.

 

Laura Metcalfe, a former teacher of Marten's at Queen Creek High School, remembered him as a caring young man who wanted to play college baseball.

 

"Nathan was an absolutely wonderful human being," Metcalfe said.

 

Funeral services for Martens were pending.