New Building Dedicated to Fallen Soldier
Sending In The Cav: A Soldier’s Story
Spec. Rose Daniels, 1st Calvary Division Public Affairs





FORT HOOD, Texas- The new building for the personnel section on the Fort Hood, base has been completed and renamed to the Selian A. Diaz Personnel Section, just in time for what would have been the soldier’s 20th birthday. The special ceremony was held for Diaz, on Memorial Day and over 200 people gathered in her memory at the new building.


Diaz, was a Personnel Specialist from Caguas, Puerto Rico, serving with the
21st Combat Support Hospital, 13th Corps Support Command, was killed in action when the convoy she was riding in was ambushed near Baghdad, Iraq on April 4th.

“Specialist Diaz was very energetic and proud of her Puerto Rican heritage,” said Spec. Rene Torres,
A Personnel Specialist who served with Diaz. “ She was a beautiful woman.”
Torres and Diaz worked together in Fort Hood, Texas. She remembers meeting Diaz when she first arrived from Puerto Rico to the base.
“The first night she was in Fort Hood, we all welcomed her by taking her out, she was the best dancer I had ever seen, she carried an energy, she made everyone who knew her love her,”
Torres said as she wiped her eyes.

The ceremony included a special painting of Diaz, who was a model; the painting was her first professional modeling photo, which is displayed inside the new building.

“Everyone has told me how hypnotizing her big green eyes were,” said Lt. Col. Gary Fisher,
502nd Personnel Service Battalion Commander. “ You can see her beauty in the portrait.”
Diaz came from a Military Family. Her husband, Sgt. Benjamin Diaz is a member of the Army at
Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. Her mother is a retired Sergeant, and her father is a retired Sergeant First Class.

Although her family was not at the ceremony close friends of Diaz called and spoke with her mother
Margie Vargas about the ceremony.
“She was overwhelmed with great pride of what her daughter’s sacrifice has become.”
The ceremony closed with the hanging of Puerto Rico’s flag over the building.
“If she were here, she would give us her bright beautiful smile and salute,” Torres said.


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Puerto Rico Remembers Fallen Native





SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico- Jose Gautier Benitez High School celebrated June 10th as what has been named the Selian A. Diaz day.
Spec. Selian A. Diaz, who was killed three months ago in Iraq, would have turned twenty on this day. A special ceremony was held in the Gym where the fallen soldier’s Basketball Jersey hangs in her memory, she was apart of many sports at the school said a former coach of the girl’s Varsity team.
“Selian was always very happy and bright she loved to play the game, she loved it more when they would win,” said Fatima Eriquez one of Selian’s friends and former teammate.

Diaz’s parents were at the ceremony and proudly accepted the special plaque in memory of Diaz, her husband a 2001 graduate was also present at the ceremony and had the honors of unveiling the new Dance Room named after Selian, who was also captain of the dance team.

Diaz was well known with her classmates and was named Homecoming Princess both her senior and junior year at the High School.
“She wanted to be a dancer and a model in videos,” said her best friend Clarissa Valdez.

The school plans on having the permanent memorial that will be in the school’s yard finished by the end of the summer.


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