OKLAHOMA CITY—A soldier stationed at Fort Carson died when the vehicle he was riding in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Baghdad, the military said Monday.
Army Pfc. Jerimiah Veitch, 21, from Dibble, Okla., died Thursday, the military said. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based at the post outside Colorado Springs, Colo.
Veitch had only been in Iraq for two months following a two-week visit with family and friends in his hometown of Dibble, his sister Amanda Testerman, said. He had served six months in Iraq before that.
“If you needed anything, he was there,” Testerman said.
Friends and family gathered Sunday night for a candle light vigil in Veitch’s honor at Dibble High School, where he graduated and where he made the grades that kept him on the football field and in the weight room.
“He did great in school,” Testerman said. “He did the school part so he could play football. He always gave 100 percent.”
Veitch moved to Dibble with his mother Valorie Sanchez and stepfather Tony Sanchez from San Jose, Calif., before high school.
His death marks the fourth Oklahoma soldier to die in Iraq in less than one week. Pfc. Thomas Ray Leemhuis, 23, of Anadarko, and Sgt. Ryan M. Wood, 22, of Oklahoma City, both were killed Thursday in Baghdad. Spc. Derek Calhoun, 23, of Oklahoma City, died Saturday near Baghdad.
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Information from: The Oklahoman,
