3 Minnesotans killed in Iraq

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Bob Von Sternberg and Chuck Haga, Star Tribune
February 23, 2005

One was a freshly minted suburban police officer. Another was a beloved math teacher. And one was advancing through the sergeant ranks of the Minnesota National Guard. All three were newly married; two of them wed just days before they headed for Iraq last fall.

All three died Monday, killed when a roadside bomb was detonated where their military convoy had been brought to a stop in Baghdad. Eight others were injured.

It was Minnesota's costliest day in Iraq and apparently the deadliest day of combat for the state since May 5, 1968, when nine died in Vietnam. Nineteen Minnesotans have died in Iraq since mid-2003; 18 were military members.

Staff Sgt. David Day, 25, of St. Louis Park, First Lt. Jason Timmerman, 24, of Tracy and Sgt. Jesse Lhotka, 24, of Alexandria were killed in southwest Baghdad. All were members of the 151st Field Artillery based in Montevideo, a unit that had retrained for urban street patrol.

Timmerman, Day and Lhotka -- all of whom grew up in western Minnesota -- were among about 330 members of the 151st mobilized in the fall for a deployment that was to last a year to 18 months. The 151st includes units based in Montevideo, Marshall, Olivia, Morris, Ortonville, Appleton and Madison.

They are among about 1,000 state National Guard troops now in Iraq, with more than 800 other troops now serving in Afghanistan or supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom in Kuwait and other countries.

Stacey Lhotka, who talked to people who were with her husband when he died, said he was in a convoy of four Humvees on their way to practice shooting their weapons. His Humvee hit gravel and rolled over, she was told. He was OK, but he helped the gunner out of the vehicle and administered first aid to the driver, who was badly injured.

As Lhotka helped carry the driver to a waiting helicopter on the other side of a bridge, an "improvised explosive device" exploded, killing Lhotka and the other two men. Stacey Lhotka said the driver her husband was assisting apparently survived the blast.
Her husband "really was a hero," she said. "He truly honest-to-God did the right thing. We begged him not to be a hero before he left, but he did what he had to do."

Day's grandmother, LaVonne Day, provided a similar account, saying that family members were told that Day was checking on an overturned Humvee when a roadside bomb went off, killing him.

"This Humvee was on its side, tipped over, and he went over to see if anybody was hurt when it blew up," she said. "He was going to help. That would be David."
A spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq confirmed that three soldiers were killed and eight others wounded when the bomb exploded as they were evacuating an injured soldier, but the military had not released their identities as of Tuesday night.

The Defense Department gave a slightly different version of how the convoy was halted. It said the convoy stopped when a Humvee was hit by a civilian vehicle. The Defense Department did not say whether it believed the accident had been staged as an ambush.
The incident happened about 8 a.m. Monday (11 p.m. Sunday in the Twin Cities).

A new career

Day had just started as a police officer in St. Louis Park before he was deployed to Iraq, said Chief John Luse, and he had married his high school sweetheart less than a week before he left for Iraq.

"He bought her a brand-new car and the diamonds, and he said, 'Now I want you to be taken care of,' " LaVonne Day said. "They were together for about four or five days."
Day became a St. Louis Park police officer in February 2004 after more than a year as a community service officer, during which time his responsibilities were more mundane -- issuing parking tickets and chasing stray animals. Luse recalled Day as someone who "never whined, and you never had to ask him twice to do something."
Said Paul Barnes, a St. Louis Park police officer who served in Iraq and had shared some of his experiences with Day: "A lot of things happen you can't share and don't want people to know because you don't want your family to worry."

The Police Department is setting up a memorial fund at Citizens Bank to allow Day's wife, Amy, to memorialize him in the manner of her choosing.

Luse said department members had stayed in touch with Day, who e-mailed pictures of Iraq and his barracks.

Effective teacher

Timmerman had graduated from high school in Cottonwood and was married last year.

"He was a wonderful guy -- very caring," said Aaron Hess, who grew up with Timmerman. "He was so good-natured, I never saw him angry at anyone."

Timmerman said little over the years about his decision to join the Guard. "He could never give a clear answer to why he joined, but if he's like a lot of guys, it was to help pay for his education," Hess said.

Family and friends threw a barbecue send-off for him last fall. "I was able to give him a hug, wish him luck," Hess said. "He was extremely worried about going, especially because he had a new family -- not even married for a year yet."

Timmerman received a bachelor's degree in math education and a master's in educational technology from Dakota State University.

In his online college profile, Timmerman wrote: "In order for a teacher to be effective in the classroom, he must make a personal connection with the students so they understand the teacher's genuine desire to help students learn and grow."

"He really got along well with the kids and always wanted to spend time with them," said Dr. Diana Messick, principal at Whittier Middle School in Sioux Falls, S.D., where Timmerman student-taught with a seventh-grade math teacher two years ago.

He taught math and computers for a year at the K-12 Lake Benton Public School in Lake Benton in 2003-2004. He left teaching for a job in the private sector last fall, said Superintendent Bill Delaney.

"He demonstrated traits that were uncommon for a first-year teacher," Delaney said. "The staff and students looked up to him as mature before his time."

Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes said word of Timmerman's death had been slowly spreading. "It'll be felt by the entire community," he said.

Timmerman's younger brother, Travis, is also serving in the Guard in Iraq, state Rep. Marty Seifert of Marshall said.

Dose of reality

Lhotka, 24, graduated from Lac qui Parle Valley High School in Madison, Minn., in 1999. He was class president in his sophomore and senior years.

"He was a very respectful and good-natured young man," said Robert Munsterman, the school district superintendent, who has a son in Iraq, too. "Obviously, it's a dose of reality," he said.

In Appleton, Lhotka's hometown, about 25 people gathered in the basement of the Appleton Armory to make yellow ribbons to tie on trees and fences.

"It's terrible, tragic news," said Becky Wulf of Renville, whose son, Matt, who turned 22 on Tuesday, is serving with the 151st. "It's going to be hard. I understand one of those killed was in the same company as Matt, so I'm waiting to hear from him."

"There's a lot of telephone-calling going on" all over southwest Minnesota, she said.

Multiple casualties in a single Guard unit have become a more common occurrence in Iraq as the military has increased its reliance on National Guard troops who serve as units.

"My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of these three brave soldiers who lost their lives," said Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., who represents their hometowns. "All of us in Minnesota's Seventh District are saddened by the loss of these men."

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said, "We are grateful to them. ... We mourn their loss."

At the Minnesota Legislature, the House acknowledged the deaths with a moment of silence before the session.

"It's events like this that we remember that all have given some but some have given all," said Rep. Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake.

Original story including pictures...

Another sad day, rest in peace soldiers

Rest in Peace Brothers!

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David Day was a Scout, a cop, soldier, husband

Nick Coleman, Star Tribune
March 4, 2005

MORRIS, MINN. -- David Day was given his hero's farewell Thursday, the last of three Minnesota soldiers who died in Iraq to be remembered in small-town rituals that included prayers, tears, rifle volleys, helicopter flyovers and unanswered questions about a faraway war that brought three promising young men home for good.

Day, 25, was a St. Louis Park police officer with a megawatt grin that, even with a sidearm strapped to his leg and wearing combat gear, made the photo on his funeral program shine with the promise of a life cut short. Day died when a roadside bomb in Baghdad went off Feb. 21 as he and two other members of the Minnesota National Guard's 151st Field Artillery, Jason Timmerman and Jesse Lhotka, tried to help soldiers injured in the same attack by insurgents.

Staff Sgt. David Day's funeral
Jim Gehrz
Star Tribune

Day was an Eagle Scout and easygoing cutup who married his high school sweetheart, Amy Gulbrandson, on the morning of his going-to-Iraq party last October. His 2½-hour funeral was held at Assumption Catholic Church in his hometown of Morris, with Gov. Tim Pawlenty, hundreds of police, Guard comrades and his childhood friends on hand.

His funeral was the third in an extraordinary week of grief and patriotic outpourings that left heavy hearts across western Minnesota, where the 151st drew its soldiers, but risked causing funeral fatigue in a country that seems to have stopped paying attention to a war where 150,000 Americans -- including almost 1,500 National Guard troops from Minnesota -- remain at risk.

With our flags still at half-staff, we have had three funerals, and one gathering anxiety.

Residents of Morris set roses on the pavement along Atlantic Avenue while a somber procession of police squad cars from all over the state led the hearse carrying their fellow police officer to Assumption Church. On lampposts along the way, banners left over from Christmas sported white doves and the words, "PEACE," JOY."

But there is no peace in Iraq and there was no joy in Morris.

"David is a guy of integrity," said Paul Rentz, an insurance and real estate agent whose son, Patrick, went to school with Day. "He is just a tremendous kid."

Then, realizing he was still speaking of Day in the present tense, Rentz said: "He will be sorely missed."

Guard helicopters hovered over the long funeral procession while workers on lunch break at a conveyor manufacturing plant on the west side of Morris climbed atop trailers and tall piles of plowed snow to try to get a better look at the helicopters and to ponder the meaning of a war that has now cost 1,500 Americans.

"It's hard to tell if it's worth it," said one worker, George Graff, a retired teacher and high school wrestling coach who knew Day's family back when the fallen soldier's sister, Kate, was a school cheerleader. "I don't even know if it's a war over there, anymore. You don't know who you're fighting. Somebody you see on the street smiles, and then they blow you up."

Lisa Nieland, 24, a production assistant in the factory (where another worker is in Iraq with the Guard) suggested that we pray and keep any doubts to ourselves.

"It's easy to forget that our boys are dying over there," she said, although the helicopters could be heard in the distance. "It's important that we stay united and keep supporting them, or they'll start wondering why they're over there."

A third worker watching the choppers, Pat Needham, 50, didn't have the luxury of thinking about Iraq in the abstract: He has a son and a daughter there now, and another son on the way, all serving in the Army.

"It's one of those things," Needham said, nodding toward the honor helicopters. "We don't want this kind of thing to happen, but it can. We want to lose as few of them as we can, and then bring 'em home. That's what we pray for."

Five hundred mourners filled the 99-year-old church for Day's funeral, most of them arriving at least an hour before the 2 p.m. service , listening to a musical prelude that included "God Bless the USA,"American Soldier" and other popular anthems that were heard all week across western Minnesota, from Marshall to Appleton to Morris.

One of the funeral readings came from Ecclesiastes, the passage about "a time for every purpose," including "a time to be silent and a time to speak."
The Rev. Alan Wielenski, who presided at the funeral, told the mourners that whatever opinions might be held about the war, the sacrifice of soldiers like David Day is a reminder of the best parts of our nature.

"We will all draw our own conclusions about this war," the priest said. "But the selfless sacrifice of David, and the countless other soldiers like him, is a tribute to the best virtues of humankind -- courage, faithfulness, selflessness, steadfastness, loyalty and love, unto death."

The Gospel reading was from John and included the verse: "There is no greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." That verse, said Wielenski, "is not merely a military slogan -- these are sacred words from our Bible."

The funeral ended with prayers for peace, for the soldiers and the civilians who have been killed or wounded, and with a prayer of gratitude offered by Bishop John Kinney for "all those men and women who stand in harm's way."

Staff Sgt. David Day will be buried today at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery at Camp Ripley near Little Falls, Minn. A brief military ceremony was held outside the church in Morris after his funeral Thursday, as the sun started to sink in the west and lines of white-haired veterans, blue-uniformed cops and green-uniformed soldiers snapped to attention for rifle volleys, a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" and the playing of taps as a helicopter swooped low over the gathering.

The flag from Day's coffin was carefully folded and presented to his widow and family while, across from the church, a flag flew from the side of a small house. In a window was posted a handmade sign:

"A Scout Who Did His Duty."

Nick Coleman is at ncoleman@startribune.com.

[AngelBear]

Peace be with them