Hilda Clayton

Spc. Hilda I. Ortiz Clayton (May 21, 1991 – July 2, 2013) was a U.S. Army combat photographer who was killed in 2013 when a mortar accidentally exploded during an Afghan training exercise. She captured the explosion that killed her and four Afghan soldiers. She was assigned to the 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera), 21st Signal Brigade, Fort Meade, Maryland. Ortiz Clayton was the first combat documentation and production specialist to be killed in Afghanistan.

Early life Ortiz Clayton was born on May 21, 1991, in Augusta, Georgia to Ellis Ortiz and Evelyn Suarez. She graduated in 2009 from Westside High School in Augusta. Ortiz Clayton, who was of Puerto Rican descent, was married to Specialist Chase E. Clayton, member of Charlie Company 1-30 IN 2 ABCT, 3rd Infantry in Fort Stewart, Georgia. She was photographing the live firing of a mortar, but the mortar shell exploded while in the launch tube. Ortiz Clayton and an Afghan soldier took pictures at about the same time.

Various sources have been conflicting about who took which picture. Stars and Stripes, Military Review, CBS News and Fox News credit the above photo to Ortiz Clayton. Army Times attributes another picture to Ortiz Clayton.

Ortiz Clayton's photograph was made public in the U.S. Army's Military Review in May 2017 by permission of her family and received widespread press attention from, among others, The New York Times, Time magazine and the BBC.

Burial

Ortiz Clayton's funeral was held at the Poteet Funeral Home. She was buried in the Veterans Plot section of the Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Augusta, Georgia.

The 55th Signal Company (later redesignated as 55th Public Affairs Company (Combat Camera)) named their annual competitive award for combat camera work "The Spc. Hilda I. Clayton Best Combat Camera (COMCAM) Competition" in her honor.

Awards decorations Amongst Ortiz-Clayton's military awards and decorations are the following:

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