Army Surgeon From NJ Killed In Iraq Mortar Attack

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Army Surgeon From Killed In Iraq Mortar Attack

By Samantha Henry - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Dec 28, 2008 11:25:25 EST

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey doctor —who was a well-known trauma surgeon at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania — has been killed in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.

In a statement issued Friday night, the DoD said 42-year-old Maj. John P. Pryor of Moorestown died Christmas Day when a mortar round hit near his living quarters. He was serving with a forward surgical team with the Army’s 1st Medical Detachment, based in Fort Totten, N.Y.

Pryor’s colleagues said they were devastated by the loss of the married father of three young children.

“John was a man who truly believed that service to others was his calling,” said Dr. C. William Schwab, chief of trauma surgery and critical care at the hospital, which is in Philadelphia. “Whether it was volunteering at Ground Zero on 9/11 or with the Army, or serving the people of the community, that was what he was about.”

Schwab said Pryor joined the hospital in 1999 after graduating medical school at the State University of New York in Buffalo. He described Pryor as a “star” who quickly rose through the hospital ranks to become director of its trauma program.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_surgeonkilled_122708/%2e