Saturday, August 7, 2010

His Star Has Turned From Blue to Gold


Soldier, Laconia native, killed in Afghanistan
Friday, Aug. 6, 2010


FORT BRAGG, N.C. – A Laconia native who graduated from Plymouth Regional High School in 1993 was killed in combat Wednesday in Afghanistan.

According to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Master Sgt. Jared N. Van Aalst, 34, was killed during a combat operation in the Konduz Province.

He becomes the second soldier with ties to New Hampshire to die in Afghanistan in the past two weeks. Staff Sgt. Kyle R. Warren of the U.S. Special Forces, who lived in Manchester, died Thursday, July 29 during an attack in Tsagay, Afghanistan.

Van Aalst was born in Laconia and attended Plymouth Regional. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a signal support systems specialist in 1995.

Van Aalst was a sniper team leader serving his sixth tour of combat. He was deployed three times to Afghanistan and three times to Iraq.

Van Aalst was stationed out of Fort Bragg in North Carolina and lived with his wife Katie and two daughters, Kaylie and Ava, in Pinehurst, N.C. His parents, Neville and Nancy Van Aalst, live in Hawthorne, Fla.

unionleader.com

1 comment:

Sarge Charlie said...

2 Timothy 4:7,8
7) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8) Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.