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By Frank Miles, FOX News
A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, who was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, has died from wounds he received in a bomb blast in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand Province, the Pentagon announced Monday.
Sgt. 1st Class Reymund Rarogal Transfiguracion, 36, of Waikoloa, Hawaii, died Sunday at a hospital in Germany. He was wounded five days earlier after an improvised explosive device detonated near him while he was on patrol.
The Pentagon told Fox News that the incident is under investigation.
[post_ads]Transfiguracion was a staff sergeant when he was wounded, but was posthumously promoted to sergeant first class, said Maj. Beth Riordan, spokeswoman for 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne).
He was an engineer assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
Born in the Philippines, Transfiguracion enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard in 2001.
He joined the active duty Army in 2008, and later went through Special Forces training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Transfiguracion deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2008, and then went to the Philippines in 2010 for six months, Riordan said. His latest war tour in Afghanistan started in March.
Among his numerous awards, Transfiguracion received a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and a Meritorious Service Medal as a result of his Afghanistan service. It was the second Purple Heart he received during his military career.
He was awarded a posthumous Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart and the Meritorious Service Medal, Riordan told Fox News in a statement.
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