The Department of Defense confirmed Friday that a soldier from Wisconsin was one of two men killed when insurgents attacked their unit in Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Specialist Jakob J. Roelli of Darlington died after his unit was hit with gunfire. Also killed was Specialist. Robert Dyas of Nampa, Idaho. The two men were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division based at Fort Riley, Kansas.
Roelli was 24 years old and was a 2006 graduate of Darlington High School. Funeral services are pending at the Erickson Funeral Home in Darlington. Roelli’s was the second death of a Wisconsin soldier in Afghanistan in recent days. Sergeant Garrick Eppinger, Junior, a 25 year-old Army Reservist from Appleton, was killed last weekend.
Doug Wagen, WGLR