U.S. Army officer in Afghanistan dies during video chat with wife

The wife of an Army officer serving in Af­ghani­stan witnessed her husband’s death as the two video-chatted via Skype, his family said Friday.

The circumstances of Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark’s death were not immediately available. The Pentagon said it was under investigation, and his brother-in-law said he did not have details.

"We are entrusting the military with investigating and with finding out what happened to Capt. Clark," Bradley Taber-Thomas said.

Clark, a 43-year-old Army chief nurse, grew up in Michigan and lived previously in Spencerport, N.Y., his wife’s hometown. He joined the Army in 2006 and was stationed in Hawaii before he was assigned to the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. He deployed to Af­ghani­stan in March.

A statement from the family released by Taber-Thomas said Clark died Monday while talking to his wife during one of their regular Skype sessions.

Clark’s body was returned Thursday to Dover Air Force Base. A funeral is planned in Spencerport, but details were not available. Clark and his wife, Susan Orellana-Clark, moved there in 2000.