A MOTHER’S FINAL COUNTDOWN.  Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor was checking off the days until she could finally return home to Minnesota. Her bags were nearly packed, and her heart was already with her family.  She was supposed to be there for her teenage son’s high school graduation. She was supposed to walk her fourth-grade daughter to school. Instead, a family’s joy has been replaced by a silence that can never be filled. Nicole was the “everything” in their lives—a hero abroad and the heartbeat of her home.  THE LEGACY OF NICOLE AMOR: Read the family’s full tribute and see the community’s plan to welcome this hero home for the last time in the first comment. 

Soldier and Mom of 2 Was Days Away from Coming Home and Spoke with Husband Hours Before Being Killed in Iran War

“She was almost home,” said the husband of U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, who died on March 1

U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amo.Credit : U.S. Army Reserve 

The husband of U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, a 39-year-old Army Reserve soldier and mother of two who was killed in the Iran War earlier this week, remembered communicating with his wife just two hours before her death.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, March 4, Joey Amor, Nicole’s spouse, recalled that she had been working long shifts and had tripped and fallen the previous night.

“She just never responded in the morning,” Joey told AP.

Nicole Amor was one of four of the six U.S. service members killed in a drone strike on Sunday, March 1, during the war with Iran, the Pentagon said. The others were Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20. The identities of the additional two fallen service members have yet been confirmed.

They died in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, during an “unmanned aircraft system attack,” officials wrote, noting that the incident remains under investigation.

Nicole hailed from White Bear Lake, Minn., the Pentagon said. Joey Amor told AP that his wife had been just days away from returning home before the incident.

“She was almost home,” Joey said. “You don’t go to Kuwait thinking something’s going to happen, and for her to be one of the first — it hurts.”

Derek Hoff, Nicole’s brother, told The New York Times that his sister had spent 20 years in the military, and that her recent deployment in Kuwait was probably going to be her final one.

“She knew what she signed up for, and she did it because she had a job and a duty,” Hoff said.

Hoff noted that his sister’s 18-year-old son was graduating high school, and she also didn’t want to lose more time with her 9-year-old daughter.

“She just missed them,” Hoff told the newspaper of Nicole, who joined the National Guard in 2005, then went to the Army Reserve the following year.  “It was a yearning for her kids.”

Joey Amor said that his wife transferred off-base to a building that had no defenses, telling AP that U.S. forces were worried the base could be attacked and believed it was safer to be in smaller groups and in different places.

Nicole was remembered by family as an avid gardener who made salsa from peppers and tomatoes in her garden with her son, AP reported. She also spent time bicycling and rollerblading with her daughter.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota offered condolences to Nicole’s family following the news of her death.

“John and I join with people across our state and our country in mourning Sgt. First Class Nicole Amor of White Bear Lake,” Klobuchar said in a statement issued on Tuesday, March 3. “Our hearts are with her family, loved ones, and all those in our armed forces. Sgt. Amor made the ultimate sacrifice serving our nation, and we are forever indebted to her.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also paid respects to Nicole in an X post on Tuesday, writing, “Minnesota is mourning the loss of Sergeant First Class Nicole M. Amor of White Bear Lake who was killed in Kuwait on Sunday.”

“he answered the call to serve and gave her life in service to our state and nation,” he continued. “Minnesotans are wrapping our arms around her loved ones.”