Belizean/American soldier wounded in Iraq

Her name has not surfaced in this newscast before, but six months after the fact we have learned that a Belizean serving in the U.S. Army has been wounded in Iraq…and today she was rewarded with U.S. citizenship. Twenty-six year old Army Specialist Lucy Lopez, a native of Punta Gorda, began her military service in the Belize Defence Force, and when she immigrated to the United States in 1999 she decided to continue with a career in uniform. Her first assignment after boot camp was with the ninety-fourth Engineer Battalion stationed in Germany, as a heavy equipment operator. In March her unit was sent to Iraq where Lopez helped rebuild the Baghdad Airport. But on July third, while driving for her platoon sergeant, their Humvee ran over mines in the road some fifty-five miles south of Baghdad. Lopez suffered shrapnel wounds in the neck, leg, and arm and was awarded the Purple Heart. Under an executive order signed by President Bush following 9/11, immigrants with Green Cards serving in the U.S. military become immediately eligible for U.S. citizenship. Lopez took her oath today in her hometown of Reno, Nevada and will soon return to duty at Fort Lewis in the State of Washington. She told members of the press in Reno that while she is proud to become an American, she loves Belize and will not give up her Belizean citizenship.