Six more soldiers from the 101st die
Five others hurt in bombings
From C-J and AP Dispatches
Five 101st Airborne Division soldiers were killed yesterday and five others were wounded in a pair of roadside bombings in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.
The five soldiers, from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, were on patrol near Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, the military's statement said.
Three of the wounded were transported to a U.S. military hospital, and the two others were treated and returned to duty, the statement added. The dead soldiers were not identified.
And the Army said another soldier with the Kentucky-based 101st Airborne had died of injuries suffered when his vehicle was intentionally rammed near Beiji on Thursday.
The Army announced earlier that one soldier had been killed in that incident.
Last night the Army identified those soldiers as Spc. Vernon R. Widner, 34, of Redlands, Calif., and Pfc. Anthony A. Gaunky, 19, of Sparta, Wis.
John Minton, a spokesman for Fort Campbell, where the 101st Airborne is based, declined to comment yesterday.
With the latest deaths, 21 Fort Campbell soldiers have died since returning to Iraq for a second deployment this fall, with 12 of those deaths coming in the past week.
Overall, 90 soldiers from Fort Campbell have died in deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002.
The mounting casualties for the 101st are frustrating, said Greg Bequette of Clarksville, Tenn., a former sergeant with an air defense battery who fought in the first tour when the 101st Airborne helped topple Saddam Hussein.
"We're all saddened by it," Bequette said.
"It's more dangerous now than when we were there before."
"It bugs me. There's no way you can defend against suicide bombers, and when I was there, they were putting IEDs (bombs) inside of dead dogs and Coke cans," he said.
Bequette said he worries about soldiers from his unit who are back in Iraq. "Everybody worries," he said.
Bequette said the community will support the fallen soldiers' families and remember the troops who are fighting.
Oak Grove City Councilman Eddie Cannon said the entire community grieves when a soldier from the 101st is killed.
"It's like losing one of our best friends," said Cannon, who has friends serving in Iraq.
He said about 85 percent of Oak Grove's population is made up of military, military family and military retirees.
"We see these soldiers and pass one another on the road and wave and have them over for barbecues," he said. "We take it very hard when we lose one."
David Gaunky, the father of Anthony Gaunky, who was killed in the incident Thursday, said two other sons are serving their second tours in the region, 24-year-old Adam with the Navy aboard the USS Tarawa, and 22-year-old Don with military intelligence in Iraq, attached to the 18th Airborne Corps. Don's twin brother, Bob, recently left the Navy and also had served in Iraq.
Anthony Gaunky, who was known as Alex, graduated last year from Sparta High School and was sent to Iraq in August.
The family asked that doctors take any viable organs from Alex Gaunky for transplant. His father said that means part of his son lives on and that "he's still trying to save lives."
Fort Campbell troops are assigned to Task Force Baghdad and also are patrolling in northern Iraq around Kirkuk in Task Force Band of Brothers.
About 17,600 troops from Fort Campbell are currently deployed.