Hilda Clayton

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = Spc.

| name = Hilda Clayton

| image = Hilda Clayton.jpg

| birth_name = Hilda I. Ortiz-Suarez{{family name footnote|lang=Spanish|Ortiz|Suarez}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1991|05|21}}

| birth_place = Augusta, Georgia, US

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|07|02|1991|05|21}}

| death_place = Jalalabad, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan

| resting_place = Hillcrest Memorial Park in Augusta, Georgia

| death_cause = Explosion

| occupation = U.S. Army combat photographer

}}

Spc. Hilda I. Ortiz Clayton{{family name footnote|lang=Spanish|Ortiz|Clayton}} (May 21, 1991{{spaced ndash}}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.{{cite news |first=David |last=Martin |work=CBS News |date=May 3, 2017 |title=Army combat photographer's last picture is of her own death |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-army-specialist-hilda-clayton-takes-image-her-own-death-military-exercise/ |access-date=May 4, 2017}} She was assigned to the 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera) 21st Signal Brigade, Fort Meade, Maryland.{{cite news |url=http://wjbf.com/2017/05/02/local-army-photographer-honored-nearly-four-years-after-death/ |title=Local Army photographer honored nearly four years after death |first=John |last=Hart |date=May 2, 2017 |work=WJBF |location=Augusta, Georgia |access-date=May 4, 2017}} Ortiz Clayton was the first combat documentation and production specialist to be killed in Afghanistan.[https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/May-June-2017/Clayton-cover-3/ Military-Review]

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.{{cite news |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/augustachronicle/obituary.aspx?n=hilda-clayton&pid=165890345&fhid=5436 |title=Hilda Clayton's Obituary |newspaper=The Augusta Chronicle |via=Legacy.com |access-date=25 July 2018}} 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.

Military service

File:Hilda Clayton explosion 1.jpg

On July 2, 2013, Ortiz Clayton, who was then a visual information specialist with 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera), was photographing the training of Afghan National Army soldiers at Jalalabad, Laghman Province, Afghanistan.{{cite magazine |last=Katz |first=Andrew |title=The Story Behind an Army Combat Photographer's Final Picture |url=https://time.com/4764127/afghanistan-army-combat-photographer/ |magazine=Time |access-date=8 January 2018 |date=2 May 2017 |publisher=Time Inc.}} She was photographing the live firing of a mortar, but the mortar shell exploded while in the launch tube.{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Wesley |date=4 July 2013 |url=http://chronicle.augusta.com/news-metro-latest-news/2013-07-04/official-training-explosion-killed-augusta-army-photographer |title=Official: Training explosion killed Augusta Army photographer |newspaper=The Augusta Chronicle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020220845/http://chronicle.augusta.com/news-metro-latest-news/2013-07-04/official-training-explosion-killed-augusta-army-photographer |archive-date=20 October 2017 |access-date=25 July 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Gardiner |first=Thomas |date=3 May 2017 |url=http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/2017-05-03/army-releases-spc-hilda-clayton-s-final-photographs |title=Army releases Spc. Hilda Clayton's final photographs |newspaper=The Augusta Chronicle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815101642/http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/2017-05-03/army-releases-spc-hilda-clayton-s-final-photographs |archive-date=15 August 2017 |access-date=25 July 2018}}

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.{{cite news |title=Army releases images of combat photographer's final moments before fatal blast |date=1 May 2017 |first=Marcus |last=Fichtl |url=https://www.stripes.com/news/army-releases-images-of-combat-photographer-s-final-moments-before-fatal-blast-1.466230#.WQqcFIWcHIW |newspaper=Stripes.com |access-date=25 July 2018}}{{cite journal |title=Spc. Hilda I. Clayton: May 21, 1991 to July 2, 2013 |journal=Military Review: The Professional Journal of the U.S. Army |publisher=Army University Press |date=May–June 2017 |url=https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/May-June-2017/Clayton-cover-3/platform/hootsuite/ |access-date=25 July 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/army-photographer-captures-her-own-death-in-mortar-explosion |title=Army photographer captures her own death in mortar explosion |date=3 May 2017 |work=Fox News |publisher=Fox Broadcasting Company |access-date=25 July 2018 |agency=Associated Press }}

Army Times attributes another picture to Ortiz Clayton.{{cite news |last=Diamond |first=Christopher |date=1 May 2017 |url=https://www.armytimes.com/articles/army-releases-combat-photographers-last-photos-before-fatal-explosion|title=Army releases combat photographer's last photos before fatal explosion |newspaper=Army Times |publisher=Sightline Media Group |access-date=25 July 2018}}

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.{{cite news |last=Hauser |first=Christine |title=A Fatal and Fiery Photograph Reawakens Memories of a Soldier's Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/us/hilda-clayton-army-photograph.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=8 January 2018 |date=5 May 2017 }}{{cite news |title=US photographer captured moment of her death in Afghanistan |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39798988 |work=BBC News |access-date=8 January 2018 |date=3 May 2017 |publisher=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 named their annual competitive award for combat camera work "The Spc. Hilda I. Clayton Best Combat Camera (COMCAM) Competition" in her honor.
Ortiz Clayton was honored in 2017 in the May–June issue of the U.S. Army journal Military Review as part of a feature on gender equality in the Army.[https://www.newsweek.com/us-combat-photographer-hilda-clayton-captured-blast-killed-her-and-her-fellow-594233 Newsweek]