ND Veterans Affairs News: State

Spc. Wentz, who was single, enlisted in the Guard in November 2000, with Company B of the 164th Engineer Combat Battalion. He was promoted from private first class to specialist the day before he was killed. He was the son of Kenneth and Joyce Wentz, of Williston, and had two grown brothers. Compiled from Associated Press reports. Retrieved 10/01/2013 from "Honor the Fallen." Army Spc. Cody L. Wentz| Military Times

Pfc. Monroe, a vehicle mechanic, was the son of Bernadette Monroe and the late Jefferey Monroe, of Bismarck. He was a 2002 graduate of Bismarck High School with a younger sister, Caitlyn and brother, Nicholas. Judi Mackie was Monroe's friend and boss at the Pretzelmaker, a food kiosk in a Bismarck mall. She said he had worked there three years before joining the military. Mackie told The Bismarck Tribune she tried to talk Monroe out of joining the Army, but it was something he wanted to do. "Tony loved Bismarck and really, really loved North Dakota," Mackie said.

Staff Sgt. Koeing was a 1989 graduate of Carrington High School and a former All-American wrestler at North Dakota State. NDSU wrestling coach Bucky Maughan said former Bison wrestlers called him from around the country after hearing the news of Koenigâ's death. "Everybody liked Lance," Maughan said. "He was just one of those nice, easygoing guys." Koenig finished second in the NCAA Division II national wrestling tournament as a sophomore and sixth as a junior. Maughan said Koenig joined the National Guard to help pay for college expenses.

Jamestown High School Principal Larry Ukestad and Bill Nold, assistant principal, said Brown played football, basketball and baseball. He also was the disc jockey for some school dances. "He enjoyed life in general," Ukestad said. "He had kind of a magnetism, charisma about him," Nold said. Many people knew him from Jack Brown Stadium, which is named after his grandfather. "He was always a fixture," Nold said. "If it wasn't chasing a fly ball it was selling a hot dog."

"Over here in Iraq, we are doing an important job, trying to secure a better future for the people of Iraq," Smette said in a letter dated Christmas Eve. "I think it's going to be great to be a part of this whole experience," Smette wrote in a letter to his family last year. "I really feel as though we are helping the world, and most importantly, the Iraqi people. I just hope they feel the same way." Smette volunteered to go to Iraq in January 2003 and withdrew from classes at NDSU that February. His sister, Sarah, who now lives in Wisconsin, served in the Army.

Staff Sgt. Hendrickson and his wife, Reane, were married just four days before he was deployed. His son, Trevor, was a high school senior in Bismarck. Kenneth Hendrickson could get a group of people to skip on their way home from a restaurant or dance in their seats during a long road trip. He was willing to try almost anything and believed in having fun, said his wife, Reane. His son, Trevor, said Hendrickson always set aside "guy time" for them and was at ease with Trevor's high school friends. "He was really a big kid to me," Trevor said.

"I was so proud of him," Liz Sweet, Sgt. Sweet's mother said. "I loved him dearly for his compassion." "He was a good guy, quiet, he worked pretty hard," said Sgt. Dennis Robinson, who served alongside Sweet in Iraq. "He would make jokes about the hard times, everyday stress. He would make it fun." Compiled from Associated Press reports. Retrieved 10/01/2013 from "Honor the Fallen." Army Sgt. Thomas J. Sweet II| Military Times

Pfc. Hawk Eagle grew up in Eagle Butte, SD but enlisted in the Army at Grand Forks, N.D. His parents are deceased but Hawk Eagle still has many friends and relatives in Eagle Butte, where he graduated from high school in 2001. To his friends in the Army, he was known as Sheldon Hawk Eagle. To his family and fellow tribe members, he was also remembered with a proud Lakota name: Wanbli Ohitika Brave Eagle. A member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, Pfc.

He is buried in Saint Jerome's Catholic Church - Fort Totten, ND.

Thomas Earl "Tom" Alderson was born in Lakota, Nelson County, North Dakota on October 9, 1941, and later moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota. He graduated from Grand Forks Central High School in 1959 and attended the University of North Dakota. He earned his dental degree (DDS) from the University of Minnesota in June 1966. He was married to Marika Mosely.