Army Pfc. Sean M. Schneider

Died March 29, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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22, of Janesville, Wis.; assigned to the 115th Forward Support Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas; killed March 29 in a vehicle accident near Baghdad.

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Funeral held for Janesville soldier who died in Iraq

Associated Press

JANESVILLE, Wis. — The mother of Army Pfc. Sean Michael Schneider proudly displayed after her son’s funeral the Bronze Star he had received for fighting in Iraq.

But Kim Schneider added, “I’d rather have him back,” as she spoke to Nate Butler, one of her son’s friends.

Schneider, 22, died March 29 in Diwaniayh, Iraq, from injuries he sustained when the Army truck he was riding in from Kuwait slid off a steep embankment and flipped over, Lt. Col. Sharon L. Leary wrote in a letter to Schneider’s wife.

Although an earlier report indicated a roadside bomb caused the accident, the Pentagon said Wednesday that his death resulted from a “non-hostile” incident.

Schneider’s funeral was held the same day news came that two more Wisconsin servicemen were killed in Iraq. They were Marine Cpl. Jesse Thiry, 23, of Casco and Marine Pfc. Ryan Jerabek, 18, of Hobart.

Maj. John Worthington read statements from Schneider’s wife and family during the service.

“I am proud of my little brother for what he chose to do, and will be forever grateful that he, like so many veterans before him, made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms that you and I enjoy every day,” Phil Schneider, Sean’s brother, said in one of the letters read by Worthington. “He will always be remembered in my heart as a hero.”

Sean Schneider, a 2000 graduate of Janesville Craig High School, may have been quietly contemplating a military career for some time, but the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks solidified his decision, friend Andrew Kushner said.

He signed up in 2002 and became a tank mechanic.

“I think it just drove him over the line after Sept. 11,” Kushner said.

Sgt. Matthew Langdon, who served in Schneider’s battalion, said Schneider had reconciled himself with the possibility of death.

“We’re soldiers,” Langdon said. “This is a part of a soldier’s life and, especially over there, you do your best every day. You pray for the best, but when you join the military, it’s in your training.”

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Wisconsin soldier killed in Iraq

APPLETON, Wis. — Patti Denton of Appleton found it ironic that she learned her nephew had been killed in Iraq the same day President Bush visited her community and peace activists protested.

She said she was told that Pfc. Sean Schneider, 22, of Janesville, had died in Iraq, where he was deployed with the Army.

He was the 13th soldier from Wisconsin killed there.

“I support what the president is doing in Iraq and my nephew believed in what he was doing in Iraq. Then I read in the newspaper about all the protesters downtown,” Denton said.

“The peace activists couldn’t be doing what they did without someone like my nephew who fought for our rights in the past. Now he and other soldiers are fighting for the same freedoms and right for someone else. I don’t they (the peace activists) quite understand.”

Schneider had lived at Fort Hood, Texas, with his wife, Denton said.

The Department of Defense said that Schneider died in a vehicle accident near Baghdad after an improvised explosive device attack on the unit’s convoy. He was assigned to Fort Hood’s 115th Forward Support Battalion.

The explosion caused their vehicle to run off the road, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmet said.

Schneider was the son of Kim and Ed Schneider of Janesville.

Kim Schneider said her son joined the Army shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

She said he left Fort Hood for Iraq in early March.

“This was his first tour of duty in Iraq,” Kim Schneider said. “He hasn’t even been gone three weeks. We were just getting accustomed to the thought of him being gone for 12 to 16 months.

“He died doing what he wanted to do. He always wanted to serve his country and help others.”

— Associated Press