A 19-year-old Tibetan from Virginia has been killed in combat in Iraq, less than one month after deploying there. Cpl. Tenzin Choeku Dengkhim died as a result of "hostile action" April 2, the Pentagon said. He appears to be the first Tibetan-American killed in combat in Iraq. "He was a very good boy, deeply religious, and [he] talked of serving Tibet as a soldier after he completed his military career as U.S. Marine," his mother, Radio Free Asia (RFA) Tibetan service broadcaster Rinzin Choedon, said."He was very devoted to his grandmother, who lives in Dharamsala [northern India]. He made sure that his grandmother was present at his Marine graduation ceremony." "He was very fond of playing basketball every Sunday with other Tibetans," Choedon said. Dengkhim graduated from George Marshall High School in Fairfax, Virginia, after moving with his mother and brother from Utah, where the family first settled in the 1990s.
