From Stars and Stripes
A member of Schweinfurt, Germany’s 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment has died, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
After being wounded Aug. 29 during combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq, Sgt. Kevin Allan Gilbertson, 24, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died Aug. 31 in Landstuhl, Germany.
Gilbertson, who was on his second tour in Iraq, leaves behind a wife, Nina; 8-month-old son, Timmy; brother, Bradley, and parents Don Gilbertson and Keeley Unash, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
“He joined the Army right out of high school to get a college education when he got out. His dream was getting a degree and supporting his family… he was the greatest kid in the world,†Don Gilbertson told the Gazette.
Fighting Aug. 29 also took the life of another member of Gilbertson’s unit, Spc. Edward L. Brooks, 25, of Dayton, Ohio. Memorial services for both servicemembers have not yet been scheduled, according to the Schweinfurt public affairs office.
Gilbertson is the fifth member of 1-77 to die during the present deployment. The 2nd “Dagger†Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, of which 1-77 is a part, has lost 59 of its members.
Having been in Iraq for slightly more than a year, 1-77 and the rest of the more than 4,000-strong 2nd BCT are scheduled to return to Germany in October.
I don’t have the words. the 1-77 has suffered heavy casualties while deployed. God bless all of our men at arms. God bless the family of this lost hero.