Army Cpl. Meresebang Ngiraked

Died June 10, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Koror, Republic of Palau; assigned to 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died June 10 in Karbala, Iraq, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Also killed were Cpl. Llythaniele Fender and Spc. Adam G. Herold.

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2 Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Two Fort Lewis soldiers, including one who attended high school in western Iowa, were among three troops killed in a bombing in Iraq over the weekend.

The dead were identified as Cpl. Llythaniele Fender, 21, a 2004 graduate of West Monona High School in Onawa, Iowa; Cpl. Meresebang Ngiraked, 21, of Koror, Republic of Palau, and Spc. Adam G. Herold, 23, of Omaha, Neb.

The soldiers died on June 10 in Karbala of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device, the Defense Department said.

Fender — who moved to Medical Lake, Wash., after graduating — and Ngiraked were assigned to Battery B of the 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment at Fort Lewis.

Fender enlisted in the Army on Oct. 7, 2004, and completed initial entry training at Fort Sill, Okla.

Ngiraked joined on Sept. 2, 2004, and also completed his training at Fort Sill.

The two were stationed in Korea in March 2005 and were assigned to 5th Battalion, which relocated to Fort Lewis in April 2006.

Their unit left for Iraq in February.

Fender’s mother, Ellen Fender, said her son would not be forgotten.

“He was a wonderful son and brother with a huge heart who served his country with great pride and we send our hearts out to the men and women who have served and are serving this great country, both stateside and overseas,” she said in a statement released by Fort Lewis.

Herold was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment with the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

The three deaths were reported the same day Fort Lewis conducted a memorial service for three soldiers with the post’s 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who were killed in the past two weeks.

On Monday, the Defense Department identified three other Fort Lewis soldiers who died in Iraq over the weekend: Staff Sgt. Brian M. Long, 32, Burns, Wyo., Pvt. Scott A. Miller, 20, Casper, Wyo., and Sgt. Cory M. Endlich, 23, Massillon, Ohio.

Also killed, on June 2, was Army Sgt. Dariek E. Dehn, 32, of Spangle, a small town south of Spokane. He was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry division out of Fort Hood, Texas.

More than 200 military service members with ties to Washington state, including 131 from Fort Lewis, have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.