Daniel Zizumbo was born on September 20, 1979, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. He was the son of Julia Zizumbo. After graduating from Juarez High School, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the age of 17. Following his Marine Corps service, he briefly attended college and sought employment in Chicago before reenlisting, this time in the United States Army. He served with the 1st Transportation Movement Control Agency, 21st Theater Support Command, based in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He was later deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Beginning in June 2006, he served at Bagram Air Base as a member of a movement control team assigned to the installation's entry control point.

On February 27, 2007, Zizumbo was killed in a suicide bombing at Bagram Air Base when an attacker detonated an improvised explosive device outside the installation during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney. The attack also claimed the lives of a South Korean service member, a civilian contractor, three Afghan civilians, and two laborers awaiting entry to the base. He is now buried in the Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, Hillside, Cook County, Illinois, USA. He was posthumously promoted to Specialist.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, thefallen.militarytimes.com, www.kaiserslauternamerican.com