Southern Indiana soldier dies in Iraq

[IndianaGreen]

Southern Indiana soldier dies in Iraq

4:08 PM November 18, 2007

VEVAY, Ind. — Residents in this small Ohio River town in southeastern Indiana are mourning the death of a hometown soldier who was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bombing.

A statement released Sunday by the Pentagon said Sgt. Kenneth R. Booker, 25, died Nov. 14 in Mukhisa, Iraq, from wounds he suffered when a bomb exploded near his vehicle. It gave no additional details.

But Booker’s father, Charles Booker, said the family was told that his son’s vehicle, a Stryker eight-wheel-drive truck that he was commanding, was struck by a new form of improvised explosive device while on patrol.

The military began using Stryker vehicles in Iraq in March, believing that their speed and design would make them less vulnerable to roadside bombs than other vehicles.

Booker’s mother, Becky Graham of Milton, Ky., learned of her son’s death Thursday, the same day she had mailed a Christmas package to him. That package includes a note stating that since he couldn’t be home for Christmas, Christmas was coming to him.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071118/LOCAL/71118004

Hoosier deaths

Since February 2003, 93 Indiana military personnel have died after being sent to the Mideast for the war in Iraq.

Death toll this fall:

Nov. 14 — Army Sgt. Kenneth R. Booker, 25, Vevay, died from
wounds he suffered when a bomb exploded near his vehicle in
Mukhisa.

Oct. 31 — Army Capt. Timothy McGovern, 28, Idaville, died with
another soldier in a bombing during combat operations in Mosul.

Sept. 10 — Army Sgt. Nicholas Patterson, 24, Rochester, among
seven soldiers killed by a vehicle crash in Baghdad that also
killed two detainees.

Sept. 8 — Army Cpl. Ryan A. Woodward, 22, Fort Wayne, died of wounds suffered small arms fire near Baghdad.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071118/LOCAL/71118004