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April 12, 2005 10:42 AM
Posted on Wed, Nov. 19, 2003
Third soldier from Minnesota killed in Iraq
BY BILL GARDNER
Pioneer Press
A 26-year-old northern Minnesota soldier who had long dreamed of a military career has become the third Minnesotan killed in Iraq.
Army Staff Sgt. Dale Panchot of Northome was killed Monday when his Bradley fighting vehicle was struck by rocket and small-arms fire during an ambush.
Panchot's family confirmed his death Tuesday night but declined to provide additional details.
The Rev. Roy Johnson, pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Northome, said he visited with Panchot's parents, Arland and Karen, for a couple of hours Tuesday morning and said they received a telephone call from a soldier who had been with Panchot in the Bradley fighting vehicle.
"One of the fellows in the Bradley with him who had been wounded called them and gave them some pretty detailed information about the incident," Johnson said. "They were on patrol and one of the rocket launchers hit the Bradley. From what we gathered, he got patched up but never regained consciousness."
The attack happened near the town of Balad, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. A few minutes later, a soldier helping to transport Iraqi detainees was killed by a roadside bomb a few miles away. Both Panchot and the other soldier belonged to the 4th Infantry Division.
Johnson said Panchot "was a super fine young man who was highly regarded in the community. He was pretty dedicated to the service and was a fine young Christian man who was not afraid to witness to his faith."
Panchot is the third Minnesotan to die in Iraq. In July, Army Pfc. Edward James Herrgott, 20, of Shakopee was killed by a sniper in Baghdad, and in August Army Staff Sgt. Brian Hellermann, 35, of Freeport died during an ambush in Baghdad.
Word of Panchot's death spread quickly through Northome, a town of 225 about 40 miles north-east of Be-midji, when a military vehicle with two men arrived Monday and they began looking for Panchot's parents, who both work in nearby Blackduck.
Johnson said the military representatives went to the Panchot home about three miles east of Northome but found no one at home. The men then went to Blackduck and notified Karen Panchot at the grocery store where she works.
"Together they went out and told Dale's dad at the sawmill," Johnson said.
Gerald Struss, superintendent of the Northome school district, said he had taught Panchot as a seventh-grader and on through high school at the K-12 school.
"He's always dreamed of a military career, even as a seventh-grader," Struss said. "He died doing something he always wanted to do. He was extremely proud of being in the military. He was very patriotic."
"He was just a real neat kid," Struss said.
Panchot's father and a grandfather who lives in Northome also are military veterans.
Struss said Panchot played football, basketball and baseball at the school and was very active in Hope Lutheran Church. An older brother, Doug, and a younger sister, Holly, also went to the school, and two cousins are students there, Struss said.
Funeral arrangements have not been scheduled, but Johnson said the funeral probably will take place at the school rather than the church.
"We feel our church would not be large enough for the funeral service," Johnson said.
