Burlco native dies in Army training exercise in Alaska
Nicholas DiMona was shot during a live-fire exercise on Saturday.
A 20-year-old Burlington County paratrooper was fatally shot Saturday in a training exercise in Alaska, the Army announced Monday.
Spec. Nicholas Peter DiMona III, of Medford Lakes, was participating in a live-fire exercise near Fort Greely when he was shot, the Army said in a news release. DiMona received immediate medical care on site and then was taken by helicopter to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The shooting is under investigation, the Army said.
DiMona was assigned to the Fourth Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska. He joined the Army in July 2017 and trained at Fort Benning, Ga., before reporting to Alaska in April 2018.
“Nick was an outstanding paratrooper with an infectious personality and an uncanny desire to excel no matter the challenge,” said Col. Jason Jones, brigade commander. “He will be missed by the entire Spartan Brigade. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family.”
DiMona’s father also died in a training exercise, in 2004. Chief Warrant Officer Nicholas P. DiMona II, 32, had flown in the Iraq War and was a lead pilot during the first combat mission of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.
DiMona II, of Barrington, was piloting an Apache Longbow in Georgia on June 22, 2004, when the helicopter crashed, killing DiMona and Warrant Officer William L. Loffer, 25, of Indiana.
Nicholas III was 5 years old at the time.