BISMARCK, N.D. - A North Dakota soldier whose death in Iraq was announced Saturday by the Army touched the lives of those around him, his former teacher said.
Spc. Jeremiah S. Santos, 21, who lived in Devils Lake and Minot, died in Baghdad on Thursday in a roadside bomb attack, Army officials said.
A roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee during combat, the statement from the military said.
Devils Lake Principal Ryan Hanson lives near Santos' family and taught Santos in math class.
"I was so proud of the growth he had made as a person, and the maturity he had showed. He really became a fine young man," Hanson said Saturday night. "There's certain kids that touch you. Jeremiah was one of those kids."
Santos left school and attended the Quentin Burdick Job Corps Center in Minot, Hanson said. He earned a GED, and graduated in the facility maintenance program at the Job Corps Center in January 2004, officials there said. He also attended a semester of classes at Minot State University.
Job Corps Director Dave Ellingson said Santos was one of the most pleasant students he ever had.
"He spoke at his church just a few weeks ago and mentioned how proud he was to serve and he wasn't afraid to die," Hanson said.
Also today Sgt. Travis Van Zoest was laid to rest in Bismarck, to the jeers of a handful of protesters unfortunately.
BISMARCK, N.D. - Sgt. Travis Van Zoest put education and wedding plans on hold so he could serve his country, a decision his family said he made after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"He represents the very best of us in America," Gov. John Hoeven said at Van Zoest's funeral here on Saturday. "He risked - and lost - his life because he wanted us all to live in freedom."
Van Zoest and Cpl. Curtis Mehrer, both 21 of from Bismarck, were killed in a June 6 roadside bomb attack while they were on a reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Wicks, 39, of Bismarck, was wounded in the attack. The men were serving with the North Dakota National Guard's 188th Air Defense Artillery.
Meyer was buried on Thursday at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery south of Mandan. Van Zoest was buried next to him on Saturday.
Van Zoest's family earlier said he had decided to join the military when he was 16, following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
At his funeral in Bismarck, the Rev. Paul Becker, of the Church of Corpus Christi, said the soldier "gave his life for those who were the victims of violence."
The Bismarck church, which holds about 900 people was packed. Outside, hundreds of motorcyclists, called the Patriot Guard Riders, shielded mourners from protesters with outstretched American flags.
About a dozen members of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church held signs and shouted before the funeral. The group says deaths of American soldiers are punishment from God for the country's tolerance of homosexuals.
No arrests were reported from the protest, police said.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., called the protesters "pathetic."
"It is unreal that people in the name of God would act this way," he said.
Maj. Gen. Mike Haugen, the commander of the North Dakota National Guard, said the protesters were shielded well by the biker group.
"I never noticed them," he said.
Thankfully it sounds as though the nuts didn't have much of an impact on the proceedings.