Army Sgt. 1st Class John J. Tobiason

Died November 28, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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42, of Bloomington, Minn.; assigned to the 847th Adjutant General Battalion, 89th Regional Readiness Command, Wichita, Kan.; died Nov. 28 in Baghdad of injuries sustained in an incident that is currently under investigation.

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Minnesota soldier dies in Iraq

The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — A soldier from Minnesota has died after being injured in Iraq, his family and the Department of Defense said Nov. 29.

Sgt. 1st Class John J. Tobiason, 42, of Hayfield, died Nov. 28 in Baghdad of injuries he suffered in an incident that is under investigation, the department said.

Tobiason grew up in Bloomington — graduating from Kennedy High School — and had volunteered to stay longer in Iraq after his tour ended in October, his sister, Nancy Mitchell, told the Star Tribune on Nov. 29. He was assigned to the 847th Adjutant General Battalion, 89th Regional Readiness Command, Wichita, Kan.

Mitchell said all the family knows about the circumstances of her brother’s death is that he had stepped outside of a tent and that shots were fired. She said expected a final report on his death to be issued in a day or two.

While the Defense Department said Tobiason was from Bloomington, Mitchell said that he last lived in the small town of Hayfield in southeastern Minnesota. She told the paper that he was in his 14th year in the military and had planned to serve 20 years before retiring to a cabin in Minnesota.

Tobiason was on his second tour overseas and had previously served in Kuwait, and he would have returned home in January, his sister said. He is the 66th person with strong Minnesota ties to die in connection with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Services were planned for next week at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Bloomington.