A former Navy petty officer who was stationed in Everett and who later enlisted in the Army was killed last week by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, officials said.
Staff Sgt. John James Cleaver, of the 82nd Airborne Division, died Thursday in the Zabul province when he and other soldiers were delivering supplies and a truck pulled up beside them and exploded, according to family accounts.
Cleaver, 36, joined the Navy in 1995. After assignments in Texas and Virginia, he was stationed at Naval Station Everett on the USS Rodney M. Davis.
He retired from the Navy after 10 years and enlisted in the Army.
In Afghanistan, he served as a convoy commander and a medic.
While in Washington, Cleaver lived in King and Snohomish counties. He listed his hometown as Marysville.
“His intent was to move back (to the Northwest) when he retired,” said his mother Teresa Cleaver.
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