04:12 PM PST on Monday, January 24, 2005

By KGW and AP Staff

Another soldier with ties to Oregon has died in combat in Iraq, family members and the military said Monday.

Army 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, 27, was shot and killed by a sniper on Jan. 22 as he led a foot patrol through Mosul, according to his wife of seven months, Emily Hoe, a Western Oregon University business student whose parents live in Newberg.

Family photo

Nainoa K. Hoe poses in a military photo.

Emily Hoe said she received word of her husband's death from military officials. A Pentagon statement said Nainoa Hoe died of "wounds received when he was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire."

Nainoa Hoe was originally from Kailua, Hawaii, a Honolulu suburb, and graduated with a master's degree in business administration from the University of Hawaii.

Nainoa Hoe came to Oregon more than a year ago to continue his military career and that’s when he met Emily. The two were married last June, during a simple, sunset ceremony on a Hawaiian beach attended only by their families.

But the honeymoon wouldn’t last long as Nainoa Hoe soon left for Iraq. Hours before his death, Nainoa Hoe had e-mailed his wife to tell her that he'd be home on leave just in time for Valentines Day.

The couple had also been planning a formal wedding reception for next fall, when Nainoa Hoe was due to return from Iraq.

A grieving Emily Hoe told KGW she totally supports the troops but questions the Iraq war.

“Everyday on the news you hear about one more soldier killed. They keep putting another number on it,” she said. “It’s not just a number, it's not just a face, this is a human. I just never thought it would happen to me.”

Nainoa Hoe was based out of Fort Lewis, Wash. and assigned to the Army’s 3d Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

He was serving a one-year mission in Iraq, but had hoped someday to join the FBI, his mother-in-law Sharon Vo said.

"He was a wonderful man. She fell in love with him immediately," Vo said, of her daughter Emily. "She has a notebook here with all his awards. He was a top soldier. He had done so much, it's unbelievable. Now she is 21 and a widow."

A memorial service in Nainoa Hoe's honor is planned at Fort Lewis, Vo said.

"He was following his duty, that was what he was doing," Vo said. "We support the troops a thousand percent."