Iraq Veteran-National Guardsman Died Saving Family During Tornado

Tornado Victims Were Dads and Daughters, Brothers and Sons
NBC News
BY ELIZABETH CHUCK AND CARLO DELLAVERSON

The victims include an Iraq veteran and two young brothers. A widow and a father and two of his daughters.

The deadly tornadoes buffeting the South since Sunday have killed 34 people across six states. The storms may still bring more devastation, leaving behind not just a trail of destruction, but entire communities grieving.

Here is what we know about some of the victims:

Daniel Wassom, 31, Vilonia, Ark.

Wassom, a father of two daughters — Lorelei, 5, and Sydney, 7 — died Sunday sheltering his family from the tornado. The man who everybody called "Bud" was with his wife, Suzanne, and his girls in a hallway in the center of their home when a large beam came toward him, crushing him to death.

Wassom, who served in the Arkansas Air National Guard as a load master moving cargo in and out of planes and had been deployed to Iraq, died shielding Lorelei from the beam.
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