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Pennsylvania Army National Guard Soldier From Altoona Killed in Action

Posted on: Friday, 29 May 2009, 08:00 CDT

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Pennsylvania Army National Guard soldier was killed and three others wounded by an improvised explosive device attack in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, earlier this week.

Spc. Chad A. Edmundson, 20, Altoona, was on a dismounted foot patrol with the Iraqi Army when a bomb detonated at 10:17 a.m., Wednesday, May 27. He later died at the 10th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad.

The three other soldiers were not seriously injured and will most likely be returned to duty. Also injured in the attack were 16 Iraqi civilians, three of them seriously.

Edmundson, an infantryman, was assigned to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry, in Altoona. He was on tour in Iraq with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The Stryker Brigade arrived in Iraq in January and will depart in September.

"Spc. Edmundson was a dynamic, young soldier who had enormous potential in the military or any other career field he would have chosen," said Maj. Gen. Jessica L. Wright, commander Pennsylvania National Guard. "This is a tremendous loss and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

Edmundson was a 2008 graduate of Williamsburg Community Senior High in Blair County. He joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in January 2007 and completed basic training at Fort Benning, Ga.

He is survived by his mother, Karen L. Cornell, Breezewood; father, Roy A. Edmundson, Williamsburg; sister, Jessica N. Miller also of Williamsburg; and fiancee, Jessica A. Welch, Altoona.

Edmundson is the 34th soldier of the Pennsylvania National Guard killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the second soldier lost in the 56th Stryker Brigade.

Edmundson will be posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge. Memorial service arrangements are pending.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

Source: PR Newswire

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