Army Staff Sgt. Russell K. Shoemaker

Died May 24, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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31, of Sweet Springs, Mo.; assigned to 1st Brigade Transition Team, and attached to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died May 24 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed was Sgt. 1st Class Robert E. Dunham.

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Father remembers Missouri soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

Army Staff Sgt. Russell K. Shoemaker played baseball in high school and wanted to be a pro. When that didn’t work out, he turned to the Army, like his father and brother.

“He went in shortly after high school,” said his father, Keith Shoemaker. His brother, Kevin Shoemaker, is stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Shoemaker, 31, of Sweet Springs, Mo., was killed May 24 by an explosion in Baghdad. He was assigned to Fort Riley, Kan.

Shoemaker, an Army reservist since 1995, had been in Iraq since January. In 2003 he did a tour in Afghanistan.

Keith Shoemaker said he talked to his son when he was on leave and had returned to North Carolina, where he had been living for five years.

“He was enjoying time with his wife,” he said. “They went out and did a second honeymoon kind of thing.”

The topic of war didn’t come up much when father and son talked on the phone. Both understood what the duty meant.

“He was an American fighting soldier,” the elder Shoemaker said. “He lived the Army and the Army way. He always placed the mission first and never accepted defeat.”