Army Capt. Kevin C. Landeck

Died February 2, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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26, of Illinois; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.; died Feb. 2 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed was Staff Sgt. Terrence D. Dunn.

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Defense department confirms Wheaton soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

WHEATON, Ill. — The Department of Defense on Tuesday confirmed the death of a 26-year-old Wheaton soldier who was killed in Iraq.

Army Capt. Kevin C. Landeck died Friday in Baghdad after an explosive detonated near his vehicle, the department said. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, N.Y.

Landeck was promoted from second lieutenant to captain and awarded the Bronze Star after his death, his family said.

“He was my hero. I saw him grow from a regular high school kid to a leader of men in a combat zone,” his father, Richard Landeck, said.

Landeck graduated from Wheaton Warrenville South High School in 1999 and got a degree in criminal law from Purdue University in Indiana before enlisting in the Army.

It was in Purdue’s Army ROTC training that he met his wife, Army 2nd Lt. Bethany Landeck of Ohio. The two had been married for almost two years and do not have children.

Kevin Landeck will be buried in St. Michael’s cemetery in Wheaton, his family said.