Christopher Alan Ignatius Sanders was born on April 30, 1985, in Roswell, New Mexico. He was married to Dara Johnson. He was a graduate of the New Mexico Military Institute. After briefly attending Eastern New Mexico University in Roswell, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 2004. He completed his first tour of duty in Iraq in Mosul from October 2004 through September 2005 and was present during the Mosul dining facility bombing. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, based in Vilseck, Germany. He returned to Iraq for his second deployment in August 2007, serving in Baghdad, and was scheduled to return to Germany in November 2008.

On January 9, 2008, during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sgt Sanders was killed in action while participating in a building-clearing operation in Sinsil, Diyala Province, approximately sixty miles north of Baghdad. Sanders and his fellow soldiers entered a house that had been cleared weeks earlier, unaware that insurgents had since returned and rigged the structure with explosives. A bomb planted inside the building was detonated, killing Sanders along with five other soldiers. He is now buried in the South Park Cemetery, Roswell, Chaves County, New Mexico, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, memorial.2dcavalryassociation.com, thefallen.militarytimes.com