Portland, Ore. ? The Oregon National Guard and the family of Army Sgt. Donald Walters said Friday night he was among those found dead at the Iraqi hospital where Pfc. Jessica Lynch was rescued earlier this week.

Walters, 33, was one of eight soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company who were missing somewhere in Iraq before Lynch’s rescue Tuesday. Walters was raised in Salem, but lived in Kansas City, Mo., from May 1996 to July 2002.

“We were notified today that he was one of the bodies found at the hospital with Jessica,” said Walters’ younger sister, Kimberly Cieslak. “We want to thank the entire community for their thoughts and prayers and everything they’ve done for us.”

Nine of 11 bodies discovered in the raid that freed Lynch were believed to be those of American soldiers. Also on Friday, the parents of one of the missing soldiers, Spc. James Kiehl, 22, of Comfort, Texas, said they were told that his body was found at the hospital.

Major Arnold Strong, public affairs officer for the Oregon National Guard, went to the family’s home to inform them that their son’s remains had been recovered.

“The Armed Forces medical examiner made the identification today at the Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware,” Strong said. “The medical examiner is working to confirm the cause and manner of death.”

Walters was one of 15 soldiers of the 507th who were ambushed March 23 near Nasiriyah, a major crossing point on the Euphrates River northwest of Basra.

The son of an Air Force veteran, Walters was surrounded by the military while growing up in Colorado Springs, Colo. His dad was a trombone player with the U.S. Air Force Band.

Walters’ parents grew up in Salem, and when father Norman retired from the Air Force after 20 years of service, the family returned to Oregon.

As a teenager, Walters worked at a Salem grocery store. He liked to fish and camp, and had a long-standing interest in the military. A year after graduating from North Salem High School in 1988, he joined the Army.

“I guess he was following in my footsteps. He was a patriotic guy. He felt it was his duty to serve his country,” Norman Walters said.

Donald Walters was deployed to Kuwait as the United States geared up for the 1991 Persian Gulf War. When he returned, he was reluctant to talk about the combat he had seen, Norman Walters said.

“He was pretty distraught,” the father said.

He left the Army in 1992 and joined the Reserves. He got married, had two daughters and moved to Kansas City, Mo., where he worked as a corrections officer in a jail and at the airport. He later divorced, got remarried and had another child.

Hoping to give his family greater stability, Walters re-enlisted last year and became a cook in the 507th Maintenance Company, based in Fort Bliss, Texas. His unit shipped out for Kuwait in mid-February.

Five members of Walters’ unit remain listed as prisoners of war. Shortly after the unit’s ambush, the five were shown on Iraqi state-run television being questioned by their captors. Among the five is Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, of Park City, Kan.