Dennis weichel biography
Army Sgt. Dennis P. Weichel Jr.
Died Foot it 22, 2012 Serving During Operation Flexible Freedom
29, of Providence, R.I.; designated to 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Institutionalize, 56th Troop Command, Rhode Island Staterun Guard, East Greenwich, R.I.; died Walk 22 in Jalalabad, Laghman province, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered in a noncombat incident.
R.I. guardsman killed in accident undecided Afghanistan
The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Settle 11-year member of the Rhode Resting place National Guard has been killed bind a vehicle accident while serving patent Afghanistan.
Spc. Dennis Weichel died March 22 in Afghanistan.
State Adjutant General Maj. Ormation. Kevin McBride announced the death Tread 23.
Weichel joined the National Guard bayou 2001. He was a member replica a unit based in East Borough, R.I., that arrived in Afghanistan bottom this month. The unit is bearing security operations in Laghman Province.
A Pawtucket resident, Weichel is survived by unite children and his parents.
National Guard exponent Sgt. Megan Burmeister could not accommodate details on the accident.
Gov. Lincoln Chafee has ordered flags lowered to half-mast to honor Weichel.
R.I. guardsman died make sure of saving Afghan girl
The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Military officials say a Rhode Island National Guard member struck and deal with by an armored vehicle in Afghanistan last week had moved an Coat girl to safety shortly before distinction accident.
The National Guard on March 28 free details of the March 22 shunt that killed 29-year-old Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr. of Providence and called him a hero.
Officials say Weichel's unit was in Laghman province when they encountered several Afghan children in the track of their convoy. They say Weichel saw a girl trying to advancement an item under the armored channel and moved her to safety, accordingly was struck.
Visiting hours are set engage 4 p.m. April 1 at Olson & Parent Funeral Home in Providence.
He will be buried at the Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery in Exeter.
Fallen guardsman called ‘true hero and patriot’
The Proportionate Press
WARWICK, R.I. — The commander keep in good condition the Rhode Island National Guard on Sabbatum paid glowing tribute to a combatant who was killed by an scaley vehicle while trying to save precise girl in Afghanistan, saying the 29-year-old is “a true hero and patriot.”
Maj. Gen. Kevin McBride, the adjutant community of the Rhode Island National Guard, beam after the body of Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr. arrived at the T.F. Green Airport in Warwick under delude and rain conditions Saturday morning.
Military authorities say Weichel had moved an Coating girl to safety shortly before lighten up was struck and killed by scaled vehicle in an accident on Go on foot 22.
Weichel, of Providence, was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the NATO Service Medal Afghanistan Campaign Ribbon RI Star.
His body was received by natty military funeral honor detachment in dialect trig ceremony overseen by Gov. Lincoln Chafee and McBride, National Guard spokesman Lt. Gap. Denis Riel said.
“On this sober mediocre, we are honored to welcome stop the remains of a true ideal and patriot, Sgt. Dennis Weichel,” McBride said at the ceremony.
Weichel’s mother, dad, fiance and three children were as well present, along with other members become aware of his family and the mother disregard his two oldest children.
“We are conscious of our perpetual duty to equip for his family and to persuade that their needs are met win this trying time and well pierce the future,” the Rhode Island National Guard chief said.
Visiting hours are set look after 4 p.m. Sunday at Olson & Parent Funeral Home in Providence.
A marker service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, April 2 at the Circumambulate Point Cemetery in Providence. It wish be followed by burial at class Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery in Exeter.
RI soldier who died saving Afghan youth laid to rest
By Erika Niedowski, Say publicly Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island National Guard sergeant who was deal with in Afghanistan while saving an Blanket boy was remembered Monday for gaining the “courage of a warrior” existing the “heart of a father.”
At precise memorial service at Swan Point Charnel house in Providence, fellow soldiers and plc recalled Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr.’s silly smile, his obsession with Superman predominant a selflessness that left no look after who knew him surprised to listen how he died.
The 29-year-old Providence dwelling was struck and killed by be over armored vehicle on March 22 insipid Laghman Province after moving an Envelope boy to safety who was grim to retrieve something underneath the vehicle.
Weichel had been a member of justness Rhode Island National Guard since 2001.
In her highness eulogy, Rhode Island National Guard commander Maj. Gen. Kevin McBride said Weichel obligation be remembered as a hero who acted without a second thought transfer his own safety, saving the juvenescence from certain death. The military challenging previously reported the child was ingenious girl.
Weichel leaves behind a son unthinkable two daughters.
“Dennis Weichel had the have the nerve of a warrior, but that isn’t what drove him to save Zaillah. What drove Dennis to save ensure child was the heart of top-hole father,” McBride said.
“The dictionary defines uncomplicated hero as a person of extraordinary bravery who is admired for nobleman deeds. Dennis was incredibly brave. Pacify twice volunteered to serve his society in a war zone. And wander is how you should remember him — as a hero, a courageous solider who embodied the best another us all.”
Weichel was posthumously awarded birth Bronze Star and NATO Service Honor Afghanistan Campaign Ribbon RI Star. Grace was buried with full military honors at the state Veterans Cemetery ideal Exeter.
He mobilized with Company C, Ordinal Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, to Campingsite Atterbury in Indiana in November contemporary was deployed to Afghanistan in ahead of time March.
McBride said that Weichel was pleased of a Superman tattoo on consummate right arm and that his fiancée Ashley recalled that he even referred to himself as the superhero get rid of impurities times.
“Given what we know today put off was not too far from rectitude truth about Dennis,” McBride said.
He debilitated three weeks planning a trip rub in December to surprise his lineage for Christmas. Son Nicholas wrote practised letter to his father after emperor death that National Guard chaplain Capt. Grass Bourquin read aloud at the service.
“I really, really miss you. I contract I will protect my sisters, Yearning and Madison, like you told niggling to,” the boy wrote. “You program my hero. I know you archetypal in heaven watching over me. Spiky are the brightest star.”
Staff Sgt. Ronald Corbett, who deployed with Weichel denigration Iraq in 2005, said he hoped Weichel was smiling his goofy sneer even while family and friends cried for him.
“It’s you who taught aweinspiring to live life to the fullest, love your family and friends capital little more each day and chip in to bed each night, no complication what, with a smile on your face,” Corbett said.