Marine Pfc. Moises A. Langhorst

Died April 5, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

19, of Moose Lake, Minn.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed April 5 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.

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Moose Lake honors second Marine to die in Middle East

Associated Press

MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — A month after burying a fallen soldier, most of this town of 2,200 gathered again to say goodbye to another Marine killed in Iraq.

A funeral service was held Friday for Pfc. Moises (Moy) Langhorst, 19, who died April 5 from hostile fire near Fallujah. In early March, Pfc. Matt Milczark, who graduated from Moose Lake High in 2003 with Langhorst, died in a non-combat shooting in Kuwait.

Seven white-gloved Marines in crisp dress blues stepped carefully as they carried Langhorst’s flag-draped wooden casket from Holy Angels Catholic Church. The sharp cracks of the rifle salute echoed through the nearby woods and hills. Slowly and precisely, a Marine folded the flag on Langhorst’s casket and marched crisply around it to present the flag to the young man’s parents.

Langhorst’s father, George, a former Marine, saluted back at the flag presenter. Many who attended rushed away from the church to shed tears privately in their cars.

“I can’t talk right now. I’m just not there emotionally,” said Heather Dahlquist, a Moose Lake High senior who knew both soldiers.

Tim Zuk, a Moose Lake sophomore who played football with Langhorst, drew solace from remembering his friend’s sense of humor and his leadership on the gridiron.

Some who came to the funeral didn’t know Langhorst or his family. “I just came to honor his memory, to show that people are respectful of what he did,” said Scott Dahl of Duluth. “It’s sad. But his family should be proud.”

Connie Frerichs shook her head as she stood on a hillside overlooking the funeral crowd.

“This is too much for Moose Lake to handle,” she said. “This is the second one in a month. We’re too small of a community for this. Enough is enough.”

A sign outside Moose Lake High School read: “Moy, You will always be in our hearts.”

Langhorst also wrote a letter to his church before going to Iraq.

“I don’t feel the least bit nervous or concerned,” he wrote. “Between my good training and my faith in God, I have nothing to worry about. Keep praying for 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines and I’ll keep praying for good old Moose Lake. God willing, I’ll see you all this fall.”

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Second Marine from Moose Lake area dies in Iraq war

Flags flew at half-staff at Moose Lake High School on March 7 for the second Marine from the school to die overseas in less than a month, and the second from the state to fall in as many days.

Moises Langhorst, 19, was killed in action on March 5 somewhere in the Fallujah-Ramadi area of Iraq, said the family’s pastor, the Rev. Larry Ladosser of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. He did not know further details, but the area is a Sunni Muslim stronghold where heavy fighting has killed at least 15 Marines since Monday.

Langhorst was the son of George and Judy Langhorst, of Moose Lake. George Langhorst declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press as of March 7.

“We’re not talking to the media at this time,” he said. “We’d like three or four more days to grieve.”

Moises Langhorst graduated in 2003 from Moose Lake High School, where he was active in sports, theater and music, and was a star on Moose Lake’s Knowledge Bowl team.

“He was a talented young man, that’s for sure,” Moose Lake school Superintendent Ted Caroline said. Langhorst and one teammate went to the state Knowledge Bowl six years in a row, competing against high schoolers even when they were in junior high, the superintendent recalled.

“The team was just phenomenal and he was a big reason,” Caroline said. “He was just a warehouse-full of knowledge.”

Last month, the body of Langhorst’s classmate, Pfc. Matthew G. Milczark, 18, of Kettle River, was found at a chapel in Kuwait. He died in a non-combat shooting, authorities have said.

Caroline said the two were good friends, had joined the Marines together and hoped to serve in the same unit.

Caroline said Langhorst’s death was hard on the students and staff, coming as it did so soon after Milczark’s, so they brought in substitute teachers.

“We kind of knew just from Matt’s death a month ago that it took a big toll on our teaching staff,” he said. “Especially the ones who have children who are about to enter the military.”

Counselors from other schools and local churches were brought in for the students.

“They were well-known kids,” he said of Langhorst and Milczark. “They were very visible and well liked, so it is hitting the kids hard here today. ... One is enough. To have another former student get killed — kids have a lot of questions. There’s no easy answers to give them.”

Flags were flying at half-staff across the town of about 2,230 people, about 40 miles southwest of Duluth in northeastern Minnesota.

Ladosser said the Langhorst family was doing well under the circumstances.

“They’re pretty solid Christian people,” he said. “They realize their son is with their Lord and savior. He was doing what he wanted to do.”

Funeral arrangements were pending as the family waited to hear when his body would be returned from Iraq, the pastor said.

The Defense Department did not immediately confirm Langhorst’s death.

News of Langhorst’s death came the day after the Defense Department announced that Marine Cpl. Tyler R. Fey, 22, of Eden Prairie, had been killed March 4 in Anbar province of Iraq.

Fey was assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Langhorst, whose rank was not immediately available, was a member of the 1st Marine Division, 4th Marine Regiment, Second Battalion G Company based at Camp Pendleton.

Including Langhorst and Fey, six Minnesota troops have now been killed in combat in Iraq.

Langhorst and Fey were honored at the Legislature on Wednesday.

“Our thoughts, our prayers in the Minnesota Senate and the people of Minnesota, are with these families at a very difficult time in their life,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, said in a floor speech. “We want the families to know that we support them, the members of the Senate.”

Johnson, a Lutheran minister, is a chaplain and brigadier general in the Minnesota National Guard.

He asked that the Senate stand for a moment of silence “to recognize these two heroes from Minnesota who lost their lives while serving our country.”

— Associated Press