My town now affected by war...

First guy from my town dead because of the war. Apparently his mom lived with my parents for a stretch in the eighties.

2nd GI wounded in bombing dies

 

            The Associated Press

            Published March 4, 2005, 2:33 PM CST

 

 

                  OELWEIN, Iowa --                  An Iowa Army National guardsman, injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq that killed a fellow soldier from Peoria, died Friday, his grandfather said.

 

Spc. Seth Garceau, 22, of Oelwein, was taken off life-support early Friday morning and died three hours later, Ron Garceau said.

 

Seth Garceau was one of five Iowa guardsman riding in a Humvee when it was struck by a roadside bomb on Sunday between Karbala and Ar Ramadi.

 

He was second of the guardsman to die as a result of the bombing. Second Lt. Richard B. "Brian" Gienau, 29, of Peoria, was killed.

 

All the guardsmen were members of Company A 224th Engineer Battalion, based in Burlington. The unit was mobilized for duty in Iraq in November, Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Gregory Hapgood said.

 

The Humvee the soldiers were riding in were part of a convoy traveling between the two Iraqi cities, Hapgood said.

 

The other soldiers injured in the attack were Sgt. Timothy Shay, 22, of Muscatine, Iowa; Spc. Justin Edgington, 23, of West Burlington, Iowa; and Spc. Dennis Smutzer, 32, of Moline.

 

Garceau was taken to a hospital in Germany. His father, daughter and former wife flew to Germany to be with him, Ron Garceau said.

 

Seth Garceau graduated from Oelwein High School in 2001. He joined the Guard to be trained in heavy equipment operation, his father told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.

 

  "He was always interested in heavy equipment," Rick Garceau said. "He thought that would be a good place to get his training. He wanted to join, and that's what he did."

 

Garceau worked for about three years at Steve's Auto Body in Oelwein. Owner Steve Cummings said Garceau was a very dedicated worker who was eager to learn.

 

"He was very responsible and very polite,'' Cummings said. "If you gave him a task to do he took care of it and he got it done. He had a lot of respect for his co-workers and he had a lot of friends.''