(El Paso, Texas – September 24, 2011)
A 23-year-old soldier, husband and father from Centerville, TN was killed by a southbound Union Pacific freight train Saturday about 3:00 P.M. as he walked north on UPRR tracks near Fort Bliss, TX.
Army SPC. Jesse Gilbert, who was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division and worked as a cannon crewmember for the artillery weapons system, had been in the U.S. Army since March, 2009.
The train crew said it appeared the victim had headphones and was using a handheld device, and obviously never saw or heard the train. “It appears to be accidental,” said El Paso Police spokesman Mike Baranyay. Major General Dana J. H. Pittard, commander of Fort Bliss and the 1st Armored Division said in a statement that “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and his fellow soldiers”.
SPC. Gilbert is survived by a wife and a child.
