The 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, deployed in late April 2002 to become part of Joint Task Force 160, as the only Army infantry deployed there. Approximately 200 soldiers from the 1-22 IN were tasked with providing external security for the detainee facilities . This included fixed site security, patrols, observation posts, a quick reaction force, and also palying a role in escorting and transporting detainees
Dervishi died in Baji, Iraq, during a combat patrol when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in which he was traveling. He was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital where he later died. Dervishi was assigned the Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
The Army has released the name of a Fort Hood soldier killed this weekend in Iraq when his military vehicle came under attack.
Pfc. Ervin Dervishi with the 4th Infantry Division's Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, died at a military hospital after his Bradley fighting vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade late Saturday in Beiji, a Fort Hood news release stated Monday.
Dervishi was a native of Tirana, Albania, who listed Fort Worth as his home of record after joining the Army in October 2002. The 21-year-old had been assigned to Fort Hood since March.
Dervishi was one of six U.S. soldiers killed in a series of bombings and attacks Saturday.
He came to the United States to escape his war-torn homeland of Albania and joined the Army because he figured it would be the best way to train for a career in law enforcement, a spokeswoman for his family said.
Kim Beebe, a family friend who helped Dervishi, his parents and brother come to the United States in 1999, described him as a "sweet boy" who never met a person he didn't like.
"He grew up under communism and wanted something better and something different for his life," Beebe said. "His whole point was to keep peace."
Dervishi attended school in Waxahachie, where he was named the soccer team's most valuable player in 2001. He then moved to Fort Worth where he graduated from Western Hills High School.
In an e-mail Dervishi sent to his family the day he died he seemed "optimistic" and said he was looking forward to returning home, Beebe said.
Five other U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate bombings Saturday in Khaldiyah and Fallujah, both in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital. A blast Saturday in Samarra to the north of Baghdad narrowly missed an American convoy but killed four Iraqis and wounded about 40 others, including seven Americans.
Dervishi was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital, where he later died, the Fort Hood release stated. The incident remains under investigation.
Ervin Dervishi: Albanian migrant 'died a hero' in Iraq
02:47 AM CST on Tuesday, January 27, 2004
By HOLLY WARREN / The Dallas Morning News
An immigration lottery at the American Embassy in Albania brought the Dervishi family to North Texas in April 1999.
Three years later, Ervin Dervishi, the family’s oldest son, joined the U.S. Army to follow his dream as a peacekeeper.
Pfc. Dervishi, 22, died during a combat patrol Saturday in Baji, Iraq, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Bradley fighting vehicle in which he was traveling. He was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital, where he died.
“He came here a boy. He left here a man. And he died a hero,” said his brother Samir, 19.
Born in 1981, he grew up in the capital city of Tirana in Albania. The country was under communist rule until 1992, when the Democratic Party won the election. The family left in 1999, as the country was heavily involved with ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Kim Beebe, who taught in Albania for a year, has been the family’s sponsor and legal guardian since they arrived.
The Dervishis initially settled in Waxahachie, where Ms. Beebe lives. The boys did not start school until the fall. Placement tests put Pfc. Dervishi, then 17, in the 10th grade at Waxahachie High School. He joined the soccer team and was named most valuable player in 2000 and 2001. He and his brother were active in the Waxahachie Police Department’s Explorers Program.
“He didn’t just want to be a citizen,” Ms. Beebe said. “He wanted to be part of the society.”
In fall 2001, the family moved to Fort Worth. Pfc. Dervishi attended Western Hills High School, where he graduated in May 2002. He joined the Army in October 2002.
He went through basic training in Georgia and was stationed out of Fort Hood, where he was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. Pfc. Dervishi was present for the arrest of Saddam Hussein.
“Life [in Albania] was hard,” Ms. Beebe said. “Both boys had already seen war up close. They had both witnessed a lot of death and destruction and murder.”
But that only spurred Pfc. Dervishi and his brother in their desire to join the military, go to college and eventually become police officers, Ms. Beebe said.
“They wanted to do something about the situation,” she said. “Yes, he wanted to be a solider, but the whole ultimate purpose is peace.”
In addition to his brother, Pfc. Dervishi is survived by his parents, Kujtim and Shpresa Dervishi of Fort Worth. Service arrangements are pending.
"It's very hard," Gzim Haliti, 17, said. "He was one of the best people you could meet. He wanted to be in the military and then be a police officer."
Army Pfc. Ervin Dervishi
AMERICAN HERO
Minister Majko offers condolences to Ervin Dervishi family
January 28, 2004: - Minister of Defense Pandeli Majko commiserates the family of the American soldier with Albanian nationality Ervin Dervishi. Minister Majko expressed to his family, on behalf of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania, deeply felt condolences for the unexpected loss of the 22 years old youngster. “We share in your pain and at the same time feel proud for the heroic act of your son”, said Minister Majko to Ervin’s parents in the United States through phone conversation. He informed them also that the Commando Regiment will organize Thursday a military ceremony to honor Ervin Dervishi, the ceremony is in honor to the fallen in duty. The Minister has required the Albanian troops in Iraq to be silent for a minute in the memory of Ervin, while the military ceremonial takes place in Tirana.
Dervishi was present during the capture of Saddam Hussein, said friends.
They said the soldier was a 2002 graduate of Western Hills High School, where he had played soccer. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment.
Saimir Dervishi, the soldier’s brother, said his family knew something would happen to him.
“My dad felt it and I felt it. My mom felt it,” said Saimir Dervishi. “ We knew something was going to come up anytime. We just didn’t know it was going to happen this soon.”
In 1999, the Dervishis came to the United States after winning an immigration lottery, said Kim Beebe, the family’s U.S. sponsor. They lived in Waxahachie for three years before moving to Fort Worth.
In Waxahachie, the soldier was named the soccer team’s most valuable player in 2001.
“He grew up under communism and wanted something better and something different for his life,” Beebe said. “His whole point was to keep peace.”
