Unit remembers deadly day, fallen brethren

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Unit remembers deadly day, fallen brethren
By Les Neuhaus, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, September 26, 2007


BAGHDAD

At around 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, five men in a Humvee led a five-truck patrol through the traffic of Route Predator, known as one of the deadliest roads in the New Baghdad district of Iraq’s capital.

In the vehicle were Sgt. Joel Murray, 26, the truck commander, riding in the front passenger seat; Spc. David Lane, 20, the driver; Pvt. Randy Shelton, 22, the turret gunner; and in the back, Pfcs. Joseph Mixson, 22, and Duncan Crookston, 20.

The patrol was on its way to a gas station, where the men of Company C’s 2nd Platoon were taking an engineer to do some assessment work of concrete barriers protecting the location.

As the soldiers neared the station at about 10:45, an explosion went off, said Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Smith, 31, who was the acting platoon leader that morning and riding in the fourth vehicle of the convoy.

Three of the men — Murray, Lane and Shelton — were killed when an explosively formed penetrator, a weapon favored by Shiite militias, ripped through their Humvee.

Two others in the truck suffered multiple amputations and severe burns, altering their lives forever.

All of the men were with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Fort Riley, Kan.

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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49036