Story Created:
Aug 6, 2008 at 7:18 AM EST
Story Updated:
Aug 6, 2008 at 8:58 AM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A roadside bomb explosion in Iraq killed two Indiana National Guard soldiers and seriously wounded another, and a fourth died in a crash, marking the deadliest period in more than three years for the state's military.
Sgt. Brian K. Miller, 37, of Pendleton died Saturday from injuries he suffered in a vehicle rollover during combat operations in Abd Allah, military officials said.
Two other Guardsmen — Sgt. Gary Henry, a 34-year-old Indianapolis Fire Department captain, and Spc. Jonathan Menke, 22, of Madison — died Monday when a roadside bomb blew up under their vehicle near Baghdad.
A third soldier in that vehicle, 25-year-old Spc. John Blickenstaff from the Cass County town of Twelve Mile, was injured. He was listed in "very serious" condition.
All four of the soldiers were on their first tour of duty in Iraq.
The last time the Indiana Guard sustained so many deaths in such a short period was in March 2005, when a land mine explosion killed four soldiers during a patrol in Afghanistan.
Indiana Adjutant General R. Martin Umbarger said Henry, Menke and Blickenstaff were part of the Danville-based 38th Military Police Co. and were deployed to Iraq to train the Iraqi police.
Umbarger said the three men were "kind of the best of the best ... great discipline, a great attitude and a can-do spirit."
National Guard spokesman Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry speculated that Miller might have died in the rollover when he swerved to miss a suspected roadside bomb.
"There's a lot of debris and a lot of trash in the road, and for soldiers to have to make spot-on decisions like that is awfully tough," Lowry said.
Miller was a vehicle mechanic who had served 19 years in the Indiana National Guard. He was part of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team's 3,400-troop deployment to Iraq in March.
Henry, who was married and had three children ages 8 to 14, was a 12-year veteran of the Indianapolis Fire Department and worked as a special operations rescue coordinator, said Fire Capt. Gregg Harris.
Henry joined the Guard in 1991 while still a student at Whiteland High School. He had retired from the Guard about 12 years ago but joined again last fall.
"Gary said that since 9/11, he had this drive in him," said his sister Jenny Clark.
In southern Indiana, Dan Menke of Madison said he was notified Monday that his son, a 2005 graduate of Madison Consolidated High School, had died in the roadside bombing.
Jonathan Menke had been an honor roll student with a booming voice that wowed audiences who saw him perform in "Beauty and the Beast" his senior year, his father said.
Dan Menke said his son joined the National Guard during his junior year of high school. The younger Menke was on his high school's football and track teams, but he turned to theater his senior year after undergoing hand surgery.
Madison High School's retired choir director, Lynn Maricle, said she was stunned by the news of Menke's death.
"It really is a gray day," she said. "He was such a great kid. What a wonderful person."
The three deaths bring to 99 the number of Indiana military service member to have died after being sent to the Mideast for the war in Iraq.
