A bomb on an Afghan road killed three Illinois National Guard soldiers this week, including a young father, a man who hoped his military service would lead to a career as a paramedic and another who dreamed of becoming a police officer.
The military Tuesday identified the dead as Spec. Robert Weinger, 24, of Round Lake Beach; Spec. Norman Cain III, 22, of Mt. Morris; and Sgt. Christopher Abeyta, 23, of Midlothian. They were the ninth, 10th and 11th Illinois guardsmen killed in Afghanistan since 2,700 Illinois troops deployed to the country last September in the state’s largest call-up of citizen soldiers since World War II.
Timothy Bowles, 24, an active-duty Air Force staff sergeant from Tucson, Ariz., also was killed in Sunday’s blast.
The news of the guardsmen’s deaths hit their Illinois communities hard.
At Freeport High School, where Cain graduated and where his stepsister attends school, students learning to be news anchors broadcast the news of Cain’s death to their peers, said Principal David Thake.
In Midlothian, American Legion Cmdr. Paul Klimczak broke down at a St. Patrick’s Day party when Abeyta’s father told him in a phone call that his son had died.
“It’s a very, very sad day for our state,” said Gov. Pat Quinn. “Our Illinois National Guard, we’ve sent 3,000 brave men and women to the gates of hell in Afghanistan, and I think it’s important for all of us in Illinois and America to say a prayer for their families.”
The soldiers from the Woodstock-based Delta Company, 1st Battalion of the 178th Infantry, were killed by a bomb Sunday as their convoy traveled past Kot, Afghanistan, with a reconstruction team, the military said.
Weinger graduated from Round Lake High School in 2002. He enlisted in the National Guard in 2006.
Heather Simmons, 22, a friend, said she first met Weinger at a roller rink in Round Lake when she was in junior high school and was struck by his outgoing style and sense of humor. “He was proud of the sacrifice he was making to serve his country,” Simmons said.
His father was a Lake County deputy sheriff for 27 years, and Weinger thought his time in uniform would prepare him for a career as a police officer, his mother, Susan, said in 2007. That year, she asked Round Lake Beach to honor her son’s service in Iraq.
“This has been the hardest year of my life, but we are so proud of our son for having the courage to do what he has done for this country. He is our hero,” she wrote. The village issued a proclamation for him in October 2007.
Cain graduated in 2006 from Freeport High School, where Thake said the school’s psychologist, social worker and guidance counselor have been attending to his stepsister.
Cain joined the Guard in 2007. The soldier was married with two children. His MySpace profile photo showed him in uniform, seated in the kind of cafeteria where deployment ceremonies are held. He had a serious look and held an infant dwarfed beneath his camouflage soft cap.
Abeyta was mourned by relatives, friends and fellow guardsmen Tuesday as an outgoing character and a promising leader who wanted to be an infantryman and, someday, a paramedic.
“He could take a bunch of guys, walk up to them, smile, and they would follow him,” said Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Winling, another member of Delta Company. “He could lead men. That was his thing.”
Abeyta graduated from Bremen High School in 2003, having already enlisted in the Guard. He soon spent a year in Iraq, ending in 2005.
Jon Mireles, a friend of 13 years, said Tuesday that he had ordered colorful bracelets for Abeyta’s wake that read “W.W.C.P.D?” The homage to Christopher Paul Abeyta stood for “What Would C.P. Do?”
The soldier’s room in his parents’ house was untouched since he left. A military duffel sat on the bed. White Sox hats adorned a wall alongside a print of Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”
Before leaving, the young man had run home for one last errand, and no one was home. He left flowers for his mother and a message on a paper towel saying, “I love you guys more than you’ll ever know. Your son, Chris.”
On Tuesday, the note was still taped to the refrigerator.
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33 from Illinois killed in Afghanistan since 2001
Among service members from Illinois, those from the Army and the National Guard have made up the bulk of those killed in the war in Afghanistan. The death toll among all American soldiers and Marines in the Afghan war has passed 1,100.
ILLINOIS CASUALTIES
By branch, city
15 Army
12 National Guard
3 Marines
2 Navy
1 Air Force
NOTE: The hometown of one casualty in the Army branch has not been reported.
%% DATE NAME BRANCH HOMETOWN Nov. 7, 2001 Bryant Davis Navy Chicago Jan. 9, 2002 Jeannette Winters Marines Du Page Oct. 14, 2002 James Ebbers Army Bridgeview March 23, 2003 John Stein Air Force Bardolph March 29, 2003 Jacob Frazier Nat. Guard St. Charles Aug. 31, 2003 Adam Thomas Army Palos Hills April 12, 2004 Adrian Szwec Navy Chicago Sept. 20, 2004 Wesley Wells Army Libertyville Nov. 15, 2005 James Ochsner Army Waukegan Feb. 13, 2006 Edwin Dazachacon Army Belleville May 5, 2006 Christopher Donaldson Army Not reported Feb. 18, 2007 Ryan Garbs Army Edwardsville Feb. 27, 2007 Daniel Zizumbo Army Chicago May 6, 2007 Wilberto Sabalu Jr. Army Chicago June 2, 2007 Jacob Lowell Army New Lenox June 17, 2007 Joshua Steele Army North Henderson June 14, 2008 David Pietrek Marines Bensenville Aug. 1, 2008 David Badie Army Rockford Aug. 14, 2008 Anthony Mihalo Marines Naperville Sept. 17, 2008 Joshua W. Harris Nat. Guard Romeoville Sept. 17, 2008 Jason Vazquez Nat. Guard Chicago Sept. 29, 2008 Gary Vasquez Army Round Lake Oct. 16, 2008 John Penich Army Beach Park Oct. 27, 2008 Kevin Grieco Nat. Guard Bartlett Feb. 8, 2009 Jared Southworth Nat. Guard Oakland Feb. 8, 2009 Jason Burkholder Nat. Guard Champaign Feb. 20, 2009 Jeremy Bessa Army Woodridge Feb. 24, 2009 Schuyler Patch Nat. Guard Kewanee Feb. 24, 2009 Scott Stream Nat. Guard Mattoon March 1, 2009 Simone Robinson Nat. Guard Dixmoor March 15, 2009 Robert Weinger Nat. Guard Round Lake Beach March 15, 2009 Norman Cain III Nat. Guard Mt. Morris March 15, 2009 Christopher Abeyta Nat. Guard Midlothian %%
SOURCE: Department of Defense
KEITH CLAXTON / TRIBUNE
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