Army Pvt. 2 Dustin L. Kreider

Died March 21, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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19, of Riverton, Kan.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany; died March 21 during a unit weapon test-firing incident near Samarra, Iraq.

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Rites at Baxter Springs for Kansas soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. — Mourners gathered March 29 to remember Army Pvt. Dustin L. Kreider, who was killed March 21 in Iraq.

The 19-year-old soldier from Riverton was killed in a weapon test-firing accident near Samarra. He had been in the Army less than a year and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division.

A large photograph of Kreider in uniform was placed next to his flag-draped casket during the ceremony in the chapel at the Abbot Funeral Home.

“You have lost a loved one to a tragic accident,” the Rev. Lowell Van Tassel told mourners.

He read several scriptural passages about death, and said, “It is our Christian faith alone that can speak to us at a time like this.”

Later, at the Baxter Springs cemetery, soldiers from Fort Riley fired a 21-gun salute. One of them sounded taps, standing next to a monument to soldiers killed in the Civil War Battle of Baxter Springs in 1863.

Kreider had attended Riverton High School before graduating last year from Cornerstone High School in Galena. He is survived by his parents, Ron Kreider of Reeds, Mo., and Kimberly LeGore of Rivertown, as well as a brother and three sisters.