A soldier with family ties to the Lewiston area, Sgt. 1st Class Shawn C. Dostie, was killed Friday near Baghdad. Officials said attackers used an improvised explosive device to kill him.
He’ll be missed.
In September, as members of Dostie’s 101st Airborne Division were getting ready to deploy from Fort Campbell, Ky., for the Screaming Eagles’ second tour of duty in Iraq, scores of family members ran notes in the local newspaper wishing their loved ones well.
One was addressed to Sgt. 1st Class Shawn C. Dostie.
“We are so proud of your dedication and bravery” reads the blurb in The Leaf-Chronicle of Clarksville, Tenn. “Your selflessness makes this world a safer place to live. We will pray for you and your soldiers every day. Cameron will save your place at the table and Bayleigh will keep your seat warm. Remember that your best friend is only a phone call away.”
It was signed, “Love, Stephanie, Cameron and Bayleigh.”
Dostie’s survivors also include his mother. She lives in the Lewiston area, said Crystal Canney, Gov. John Baldacci’s spokeswoman. Canney said she’s been notified of her son’s death. The governor’s office isn’t releasing her name yet to give her time to grieve.
Baldacci reported Dostie’s death in a news release, pointing out that the soldier had family in Maine.
“This loss, during the holiday season, is especially hard to bear,” the governor stated in his release. “The citizens of Maine join in extending our prayers and respect to Shawn’s family, and we remember all those serving their state and country away from home.
More information regarding Dostie wasn’t immediately available.
The same day he was killed, a second Fort Campbell soldier also died in an IED attack. Pvt. Johnathan R. Pfender, 22, of Evansville, Ind., was killed in Bayji, Iraq, while on patrol.
Pfender and Dostie are the third and fourth soldiers assigned to the 101st Airborne to die in the closing weeks of 2005, according to Fort Campbell officials. The two others also died of IED attacks on Dec. 22.
Nearly 20,000 members of the 101st Airborne were deployed to Iraq in late September to a second yearlong tour of duty. More than 30 have now died since their boots hit the Iraqi sands.
More than 90 soldiers based out of Fort Campbell have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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