Third service member killed by coronavirus identified as 34-year-old Army reservist

The Army has identified the third service member to die from the coronavirus as a 34-year-old reservist from Illinois.

Sgt. Simon Zamudio died Friday from complications related to COVID-19, the Army Reserve said in a statement Wednesday. The Pentagon first noted his death in figures released Tuesday.

An online obituary shared by the Army Reserve said Zamudio, who was born in Phoenix and was living in Carpentersville, Ill., died at a hospital in suburban Chicago. He is survived by a wife and a daughter, according to the obituary.

Zamudio was not on active orders at the time of his death, nor had he been one of the 3,000 Army reservists mobilized as part of the military’s domestic coronavirus response, Army Reserve spokesman Lt. Col. Simon Flake confirmed.

Zamudio enlisted in the Army Reserve in October 2015 and was assigned to the 371st Theater Movement Control Element at Fort Sheridan, Ill., the statement said.

He was promoted to the rank of sergeant April 1 and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon, the statement added.

Two other service members have died from COVID-19. In March, Army Capt. Douglas Linn Hickock, a New Jersey National Guardsman, became the first.

Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., a 41-year-old aviation ordnanceman, died in April. He was one of the more than 1,000 sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt who contracted the virus.

In total, the Pentagon has reported 35 coronavirus deaths connected to the department. In addition to the three service members, 18 civilians, five dependents and nine contractors have died, according to the Pentagon’s latest figures.