Army Specialist Tiezhou Z. Wu became an American citizen while serving in Iraq.

Wu, originally from China, attended the citizenship ceremony in April.

More than 250 soldiers from 70 countries took the oath of citizenship in the Al Fawl palace in Baghdad, Iraq, a palace that Saddam Hussein once occupied.

Wu, a medical logistics specialist with two years of military service, is deployed with the 551st Medical Logistics Company in Iraq.

He is the son of Ya Roug and stepson of Ronald H. Wilkinson of Simi Valley. He graduated from Simi Valley High School in 2006.