By Alabama Public Radio
Baghdad, Iraq – An Alabama soldier has died in Iraq. The Army reports Staff Sergeant Robert Thornton Junior was killed Monday while patrolling Baghdad. His group was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade. He was 35 years old. Thornton listed Rainbow City in Etowah County as his home, but a relative says he was raised in Guntersville. Thornton spent 14 years in the Army and served in the First Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas. Fort officials say he is the 99th soldier from Fort Hood killed in Iraq since the war began.