Army Staff Sgt. Kenneth E. Locker Jr.

Died April 23, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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28, of Wakefield, Neb.; assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died April 23 in Sadah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his location. Also killed were 1st Lt. Kevin J. Gaspers, Staff Sgt. William C. Moore, Sgt. Randell T. Marshall, Sgt. Brice A. Pearson, Sgt. Michael L. Vaughan, Spc. Jerry R. King, Spc. Michael J. Rodriguez and Pfc. Garrett C. Knoll.

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Family says Nebraska soldier killed in Iraq

By Anna Jo Bratton

The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. — A Burwell man says his 28-year-old son was killed April 23 in Iraq, possibly in the same attack that killed a Hastings man.

Ken Locker Sr. said he found out yesterday afternoon that his son, Sgt. Ken Locker Jr., died in an attack April 23 in Iraq. He was a soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division, the same division 26-year-old 1st Lt. Kevin Gaspers was in. Gaspers’ family was told yesterday that he was killed April 23 in a suicide bombing.

Ken Locker Sr. said April 25 he had worried since he heard news of a deadly suicide truck bombing April 23 that killed nine soldiers, the single deadliest attack for the 82nd Airborne Division in nearly 40 years.

Military officials have not yet confirmed either soldier’s death. Both families said they could not confirm whether the two were among the nine soldiers killed in that attack.

Both were stationed in Fort Bragg, N.C., before they were deployed to Iraq last August.

Locker is the 43rd U.S. service member with Nebraska connections killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since the beginning of military operations following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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Overflow crowd attends soldier funeral in Burwell

The Associated Press

BURWELL, Neb. — An overflow crowd of more than 300 mourners attended the May 3 funeral of Army Staff Sgt. Ken Locker Jr., who was killed in a suicide bombing last week in Iraq.

Locker was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, the same division 26-year-old 1st Lt. Kevin Gaspers served with. Gaspers was killed in the same suicide bombing April 23. His funeral is May 4 in Hastings.

St. John’s Lutheran Church in Burwell couldn’t hold all the mourners for Locker. Others stood in small groups outside the church, many of them waving American flags.

“A dear friend of mine was killed in Iraq in the war and I wanted to pay my respects to him and his family,” said Christopher Wietzki, who grew up next door to Locker. “I hadn’t seen him in a long time, and it was kind of hard getting the news about it.”

About 70 riders with the Patriot Guard motorcycle riders, some from as far away as Colorado, lined the walk into the church.

“This soldier has made the ultimate sacrifice and we want his family to know that he hasn’t done it for any lost reason,” said Patriot Guard rider Herb Anderson of Lincoln. “There are people who respect what he has done and what he gave.”

Military personnel carried Locker’s casket out of the church. The funeral procession made its way through the town square and then to Cottonwood cemetery. Hundreds of people lined the streets, many waving flags as the procession drove past.

Locker and Gaspers were stationed in Fort Bragg, N.C., before they were deployed to Iraq last August.

Locker graduated from Burwell High School in 1997, enlisting in the Army while he was still in high school.

Locker spent three years in the Army, then more than two years with the National Guard before re-enlisting in the Army.

Locker was injured in Iraq last fall by a land mine and was awarded a Purple Heart, said his father, Ken Locker Sr. The soldier had two or three pieces of shrapnel in his neck, and his hearing was damaged in the attack. He was transferred to desk duty for a month before returning to the front lines, his father said.