Fort Riley Soldier Dies In Iraq and Soldier From Concord Killed in Iraq

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Fort Riley Soldier Dies In Iraq

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jan 3, 2009 15:18:17 EST

CONCORD, Calif. — Military officials say a 22-year-old soldier from the San Francisco Bay Area city of Concord has died in Iraq.

The Department of Defense announced Friday that Pvt. Benjamin Tollefson, station at Fort Riley, Kan., died Dec. 31 in Balad, Iraq, after his unit was attacked by insurgents in Ghazaliya.

Tollefson was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_iraqcasualty_010309/%2e


FAMILY PHOTO Pvt. Benjamin B. Tollefson, 22, of Concord, Calif., died Dec. 31 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with indirect fire in Ghazaliya. Tollefson was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

Soldier From Concord Killed in Iraq

By John Simerman
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 01/02/2009 07:35:10 PM PST

Ben Tollefson, of Concord, married his high-school sweetheart on Dec. 6, 2007, just before the Army sent him off for training in the Midwest.

He was headed to Iraq as an infantryman, but not before the birth of his first child. So in late April, Tollefson jetted home from Fort Riley, Kan., and drove fast to Travis Air Force Base. His wife, Natalie, was in labor.

"He was able to get there 45 minutes before Mac was born," said Ed Hartley, Natalie's father. "She held on until he got there. Or Mac held on."

Mac James weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces. Tollefson was "ecstatic" as a father, Hartley said. The new family spent the summer in Kansas, before Tollefson shipped out in late September.

"He wanted to be a soldier for so long," Hartley said. "He knew what would be over there. He knew where he was going to go, and he didn't shy away from it at all."

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