Julia Velinda Atkins
Sergeant, U.S. Army
Operation Iraqi Freedom

Julia V. Atkins was born on 14 November 1983 in Louisiana. She was the youngest of four children whose mother died when she was 12 years old.

Julia joined the U.S. Army shortly after getting her GED, in part because of a family history of military service. Julia was on her second tour of duty in the war and was scheduled to leave Iraq in February 2006. She was planning to leave the Army, marry Sergeant Keith Mack, and go to college.

Sergeant Atkins was an MP assigned to the 64th Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, based in Fort Hood, TX, and currently deployed in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. On 10 December 2005, Atkins died in Baghdad when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonated near her HMMWV during patrol operations in the Adhamiyah district of north Baghdad. Sergeant Atkins is the first female soldier to become a 720th Military Police Battalion casualty since it was formed in 1942, and was the 50th female soldier to die in the war in Iraq.

Medals and Awards (Posthumous)

Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart

Death and Burial

Sergeant Julia Velinda Atkins was killed in action on 10 December 2005. She is buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Haughton, Bossier Parish, LA.

Julia is survived by her father, Billy Atkins; stepbrother, Larry Thomas; and two stepsisters, Tawanna Thomas and Shiri (Thomas) Selby.