Army Pfc. Jesse D. Mizener, 23; Killed in Mortar Attack
Before Army Pfc. Jesse D. Mizener hung up the phone at his military base near Baghdad on Jan. 7, he promised his wife to “instant message” her on the computer as soon as he got out of the shower.
His 22-year-old wife, Nicole, waited at her home in Auburn, near Sacramento, but the message never came.
Minutes after Mizener’s call, anti-American insurgents fired six mortar rounds into Logistical Base Seitz, killing the 23-year-soldier and injuring 34 others.
Mizener, who was assigned to the 542nd Maintenance Company, 44th Corps Support Battalion, 593rd Corps Support Group at Ft. Lewis, Wash., was buried Friday at Cherokee Memorial Park Cemetery in Lodi, Calif.
“I am saddened by his death, but I am very proud that he died doing what he loved doing,” said his mother, Rebecca Mizener of Stockton.
As of Friday, 496 American servicemen and women had been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, 358 since major fighting ended May 1. Mizener is one of 55 military men and women with ties to California who have died.
Mizener was born in Santa Clara, and moved with his family to Stockton when he was 7. He attended Stockton’s Bear Creek High School, where he played football but did not graduate. Instead, he earned his graduation equivalency diploma and joined the California Conservation Corps, based at its Auburn facility.
In 2000, he met Nicole Mulqueen, then 19, who frequently came to the facility to visit her mother, a supervising cook. The two got to know each other while they volunteered running banquets for veterans and the homeless. “I was pregnant when he met me,” Nicole said. “He was a real nice guy.” The couple married in May 2001 and Mizener adopted Mulqueen’s child, Gia, now 3. The couple had two children of their own, Eve, 2, and Jesse Jr., 2 months.
Mizener fulfilled a childhood dream by joining the Army in 2002. He was deployed to Iraq last April. He and his wife talked about moving to Washington in April, when he was due home. He wanted to be a highway patrol officer, she said. “He was a very loving man,” his wife said.
Mizener also is survived by his father, James; a brother, Brian; a sister, Jennifer; his maternal grandparents, Ernest and Irene Bustamante of San Jose; and his paternal grandparents, Raymond and Peggy Mizener of Lodi.
