The Defense Department identified the United States Army soldier who became the first fallen American military casualty in Iraq since combat ended in 2011 earlier this week when ISIS murdered him in the middle of a rescue mission at a prison in northern Iraq.

Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, a native of Roland, Oklahoma, and an elite U.S. military member, part of the Army’s Delta Force.

He was assigned to Headquarters of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

According to the Pentagon, Wheeler was killed when he was shot inside the compound near Hawija in northern Kirkuk province. He was badly injured and emergency flown to Irbil, where he died.

The firefight marks the first time U.S. forces stepped into combat directly against ISIS, in Iraq. About thirty troops from Delta Force participated in the mission.

And, yes, a brave, elite American is gone. But, his tragic death in no way came in vain.

About 70 people were saved from certain death.

This from CNN:

The hostages he was helping to rescue included more than 20 members of the Iraqi Security Forces, local residents and several ISIS fighters accused of spying. They were liberated Thursday after a helicopter assault that involved U.S. special operations troops as well as Kurdish and Iraqi forces, U.S. officials said.

“There was not a lot of time,” one U.S. official told CNN on condition of anonymity. “The threat of execution was imminent.”

Mass graves dug inside the compound were spotted during surveillance, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of details of the raid told CNN. After the rescue, hostages said they had been told they would be executed after morning prayers.