Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, a 30-year-old soldier assigned to the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was among four U.S. service members who died last week amid rising tensions between American and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon reported that Sergeant Swinton was killed during the controlled detonation of an Iranian drone at Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq. While he was not directly involved in the disposal operation, he was struck by flying debris from the explosion. The incident is currently under investigation.

Sergeant Swinton’s death marks one of 18 U.S. military fatalities since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, escalating conflict in the region following the breakdown of a cease-fire last month. The four soldiers who died last week reflect a diverse cross-section of the armed forces, including both young service members and experienced parents serving on their final deployments.

Before his deployment, Sergeant Swinton maintained close contact with his wife, Jamiah Swinton, who also served in the Army. The couple met during separate deployments in Bahrain in 2020, where he worked monitoring radar and she handled missile launchers. They married in 2021 and had two children, a 6-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter. Jamiah Swinton said the prolonged deployment—the longest they had experienced together since their marriage—had taken a noticeable toll on her husband’s health and spirit. He reportedly struggled with sleep and appetite and expressed a deep longing to return home.

“The tone in his voice would sometimes change, and I could tell something was going on,” Ms. Swinton said, describing his increasing apprehension amid ongoing drone attacks at Erbil Air Base. Their last video call, she recalled, was brief but filled with affection, though their daughter was at preschool and unavailable to see him.

Sergeant Swinton’s remains were repatriated to the United States on Wednesday. Ms. Swinton attended the arrival ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where she saw the flag-draped caskets of her husband and the other three soldiers killed alongside him. President Donald Trump, present at the event, offered remarks acknowledging their service. Ms. Swinton expressed mixed emotions, noting the difficulty of explaining loss to their young daughter.

Ms. Swinton emphasized her desire to remember her husband beyond the context of politics. “Nobody can tell you how a military career will go,” she said. “There’s so much uncertainty, and you have to be strong enough to go along with it and hope that it will turn out OK.” She recalled that Sergeant Swinton had hoped his deployment to Iraq would be his last. “I just wanted to be glued to him,” she said. “Everything he did—the way he spoke, his voice, everything—I just, I love him.”