Hilda Clayton

Hilda I. Ortiz Clayton (May 21, 1991 – July 2, 2013) was a U.S. Army combat photographer who was killed in 2013 when a mortar exploded during an Afghan training exercise. She captured the explosion that killed her and four Afghan soldiers. She was in the 55th Signal Company, Combat Camera Unit, 21st Signal Brigade, Fort Meade, Maryland.

Early life
Clayton was born on May 21, 1991 in Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia. She graduated in 2009 from Westside High School in Augusta, Georgia.

Military service
On July 22, 2013, Clayton was photographing the training of Afghan National Army soldiers at Jalalabad, Laghman Province, Afghanistan. She was photographing the live firing of a mortar, but the mortar shell exploded while in the launch tube. 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 Clayton. Daily Mail and Army Times attribute another picture to Clayton.