NORWAY – Army Sgt. Corey Dan was killed near Ramadi, Iraq, when he came under small-arms fire and an improvised explosive device detonated near him, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday.
The 22-year-old from Norway and a 27-year-old also from 101st Airborne Division died in the attack last Monday, the statement said. Dan had been stationed in Ramadi since being deployed for a second tour last December.
Further details about his death were unavailable.
A military spokesman stationed in Iraq wrote in an e-mail that Dan was not part of Operation Swarmer, a huge offensive by the 101st Airborne Division in Samarra northeast of Ramadi.
Dan’s body was flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where an autopsy was performed this week, his grandmother Sharon Bouchard of Paris said.
The military is making arrangements to bring his body to Norway, where his mother and stepfather, Wanda and Doug Kilgore, are preparing a grave site on their property, she said.
Bouchard said she does not know yet when the military funeral will be held, but it is planned for Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris, from where Dan graduated in 2001.
A military spokesman said the Department of Defense waits to announce military deaths until all family members have been told.
The 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Ky., released a list of medals Dan received during his years of service with the Army, including an Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Expert Infantry Badge, Parachutist Badge and Air Assault Badge.
As the town absorbs the loss of Dan, people are coming up with ways to help his family and memorialize him.
Bouchard said Richard and Charlene Manson, who own The Lake Store in Norway where Wanda Kilgore works, have started a scholarship in Dan’s name. It will be for graduates who want to enter the law enforcement field. Dan had planned to become a police officer after his military service.
The Mansons could not be reached for comment Friday.
Comments are no longer available on this story