In Memory of…

[bigjarofwasps]

In Memory of…

Sgt Andrew Wallace & Specialist Michael Wendling

Killed in Action Basrah Southern Iraq 26th September 2005.

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died in Shaibah, Iraq, on Sept. 26, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their HMMWV during convoy operations. They were also attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire. Both soldiers were assigned to the Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Brigade, Fond du Lac, Wis.

Killed were:

Sgt. Andrew P. Wallace, 25, of Oshkosh, Wis.

Spc. Michael J. Wendling, 20, of Mayville, Wis.

394-06-936 Spec Roskpopf shrapnel right thigh

388-94-4124 Spec Wendling severe head injury d.o.w

391-72-2706 Stoleman battle shock

478-98-0408 Sgt Wallace multiple shrapel wounds k.i.a

Sgt. Andrew Wallace

An Oshkosh soldier killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom is being remembered for his love of family and country and for his dedication as a teacher and wrestling coach.

Sgt. Andrew Wallace, 25, was killed by a roadside bomb, while he helped escort a convoy of supply trucks in Iraq, his father, Pete Wallace, said Tuesday.

Wallace said his son joined the Army National Guard in part to help pay for college costs, but he also had a deep and lasting patriotism for his country.

“He was proud to serve his country and he knew the risks that came with it,” said Wallace, who lives in the Dodge County community of Fox Lake. “Everything he did, he did with enthusiasm. He enjoyed sports with enthusiasm and he loved his country with enthusiasm.”

He said his son was in good spirits when he last talked to him via cell phone about a week ago.

“He called me at work,” Wallace said. “He preferred being out on the missions instead of being back in the base.”

Wallace served with the Wisconsin Army National Guard 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment based in Appleton.

Also killed by the roadside bomb in Shaibah, Iraq, was Spc. Michael Wendling, 20, of Mayville, who was driving the Humvee that he, Wallace and another soldier were riding in near Basra at the time of the explosion, Wendling’s father, Randy Wendling, said Tuesday. Wallace was the team leader who normally sits in the front passenger seat. The third soldier, who was injured, served as a gunner.

Major Gen. Albert H. Wilkening of the Wisconsin National Guard said he has ordered flags of all Wisconsin National Guard armouries, air bases and other facilities lowered to half-staff in memory of Wallace and Wendling.

Wallace, a physical education teacher since 2003 who taught at Oshkosh North High School and Emmeline Cook Elementary School, was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in June. His father said Wallace was a member of the National Guard for about six years.

Pete Wallace recalled the last time he saw his son, which was June 9 for a sendoff at Volk Field at Camp Douglas in western Wisconsin. He said family members gave him hugs, plenty of love and told him to stay safe before he departed.

“He wanted to come home as a veteran,” Wallace said.

Wallace’s father said funeral arrangements are pending.

Overall, 46 Wisconsin military members have died during the war in Iraq and so have more than 1,900 U.S. troops nationwide. Local soldiers who died include Pfc. Brent Vroman of Omro, who was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and Army Reserve Capt. Benjamin Jansky of Oshkosh.

Wallace’s death was a shock to those who knew him, including wrestlers at North, where he was an assistant wrestling coach.

“He was there for us all of the time and whenever we had a problem we could go to him. He was easy going and fun to be around,” said senior Nick Wolff, a member of the North wrestling team. “He taught us to respect everybody no matter what happened to us.”

Wallace was a 1998 graduate of Ripon High School where he played football, baseball and wrestled. His father said Wallace also was a WIAA football official and had been an avid fan of the Green Bay Packers.

Lucas Seelow, a senior at North and a member of the wrestling team, said Wallace put a smile on the faces of wrestlers.

“He liked the sport and enjoyed being out there with us,” Seelow said. “He was at school at 6:30 each morning to help anyone who wanted to lift weights and to give his support.”

Gary Westerman, former head wrestling coach at North, said Wallace’s enthusiasm was contagious.

“Andrew was the ultimate kid at heart. He was never in a bad mood and always smiling and had positive things to say,” said Westerman, who is a physical education teacher at a Kimberly Middle School. “He was an all-around great guy and a great friend.”

Westerman said Wallace was proud to be in the military and often talked about it. He said Wallace and his wife had just purchased a house in Oshkosh.

“He was real excited about that,” Westerman said. “He couldn’t wait to have me over.”

Phil Marshall, principal at Emmeline Cook, said Wallace kept in contact with school staff via a Web site.

“He would take pictures of all the missions he was on and would post them on the Web site so we could get a look at what was going on,” Marshall said. “He sent e-mails to staff updating what was happening in Iraq. It was really a comfort to us to have contact with him on a regular basis.”

Marshall said Wallace was an extraordinary person.

“He made an impact on everyone in school from students to staff and parents,” Marshall said. “He always had a smile on his face and a positive attitude. The lack of that energy has left a big hole here.”

Michael Wendling

The news passed through the stands Monday evening at the Mayville High School JV football game - Michael Wendling, who played on the football, basketball and golf teams and joined the military while still a student, had been killed in Iraq.

Among the words murmured by stunned people as the football game unfolded before them: explosion, Iraq, Humvee, Mayville.

"In typical small-town fashion, it had drifted through the town," said Mayville High School Principal Lee Zarnott. "Unfortunately, bad news travels fast."

Wendling, 20, a specialist, was killed Monday with Sgt. Andrew P. Wallace, 25, of Oshkosh when a roadside bomb exploded as they drove past it in Iraq. They were members of Fond du Lac-based Charlie Company of the Wisconsin National Guard 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment. Their deaths bring to 47 the number of Wisconsin service members killed in Iraq since March 2003.

A high school friend of Wendling's, Spc. Jeremy Roskopf of Brownsville, suffered shrapnel wounds to his legs.

Roskopf and Wendling signed up for the National Guard together while they were in high school. They played on the Mayville golf team, which won the conference championship their senior year.

Wendling, who was on the dean's list at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee when his unit was activated, frequently kept in touch with his family via e-mail and talked about what it was like to drive the large, heavy Humvees in Kuwait and Iraq, said his father, Randy Wendling.

"He said they don't go very fast, but he seemed pretty excited about what he was doing," Randy Wendling said in a phone interview Tuesday.

The Appleton-based 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment was activated in June and trained at Camp Shelby, Miss. The unit moved to Kuwait in mid-August and has been based in northern Kuwait, providing security to convoys travelling from Kuwait into Iraq, said Wisconsin National Guard Lt. Col. Tim Donovan.

Wendling's father said the roadside bomb hit his son's Humvee near Basra, in southern Iraq. Wendling was the driver, Roskopf was the gunner who stands in the middle of the vehicle and Wallace was the team leader, who normally sits in the front passenger seat.

Randy Wendling said he saw his son shortly before the unit deployed overseas last month. He spent his home leave going to Brewers games, visiting with family and friends and golfing.

His son was upbeat in his e-mails and enjoyed serving in the Wisconsin National Guard, the elder Wendling said.

"He talked about where they were based and what it was like, what they were going to be doing, how hot it was there," said Randy Wendling.

In his last e-mail, received a couple of days before he died, Wendling asked about a care package his family sent him that included bed sheets and beef jerky and told his folks that his company was very busy.

Stu Strook coached Wendling in junior varsity football and golf and remembered a guy who wasn't the most talented athlete but someone who worked hard to improve himself. It was common to see Wendling hitting buckets of golf balls, even after matches, until dark.

"I would call him a grinder. He worked hard. He had a good heart," said Strook.

Wendling also liked to eat. He wasn't fat, so sometimes his team mates wondered where he put all the food. Strook recalled returning from a golf match one day when the team stopped at Burger King. Wendling ordered a Whopper Value Meal with fries and a drink. Nothing unusual about that, except that Wendling went back for four more Whoppers - quarter-pound burgers - and ate them all, to the astonishment of everyone watching him, Strook said.

"Mike was a personality, I guess you would say. He had a great sense of humor. He was a kid who liked to have fun, and kids liked to be around Mike because he was so much fun," said Strook.

Wendling had not declared a major at UWM, but his father said he was leaning toward getting a degree in the sciences. His high school marketing teacher, Rod McSorley, said he thought Wendling would have become an engineer.

A couple of dozen marketing students from Mayville organized a trip to New York their senior year. The group took in the sights, visited Madison Square Garden and saw "The Lion King" on Broadway. A photo of the group taken on the Staten Island Ferry is pinned to a bulletin board in McSorley's office. McSorley said he was looking at the picture of Wendling and his classmates mugging for the camera as he talked to a reporter Tuesday about his former student.

"When we visited New York, we visited ground zero, and that was important to him. He was close enough to 9-11 to embrace its importance," said McSorley. "He had very good family values. That wouldn't surprise me (that) he had the feeling of giving back."