By Bryan Denson
The Oregonian
PORTLAND, Ore — The Snake River Correctional Institution’s Military Committee will honor a fallen comrade on Wednesday in the eastern Oregon town of Ontario.
John B. Ogburn III, an Oregon Army National Guard sergeant killed in northern Iraq on May 22, 2005, worked as a corrections officer at the prison before his deployment.
He was riding as a turret gunner in a Humvee, which rolled over when the driver swerved to avoid striking a civilian vehicle in Kirkuk. He was 45.
Ogburn had lived in Fruitland, Idaho, just across the Snake River from the prison better known as SRCI. The institution holds a special place in its heart for Ogburn, one of about 20 SRCI staffers who deployed to Iraq with the 3-116 Cavalry.
He balanced his work as a corrections officer with his service in the National Guard. He first enlisted in 1989 in Oregon, then transferred to the Idaho Army National Guard, then transferred back to the Oregon guard in 2001.
Before becoming a corrections officer, Ogburn attended Treasure Valley Community College and the University of Oregon, performed geology fieldwork in an Idaho silver mine and worked in the family retail business in Ontario.
The public is invited to a brief memorial for Ogburn at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at the Evergreen Cemetery, in Ontario.