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Fallen soldier honored during memorial service
By Margo Rutledge Kissell
Staff Writer
CENTERVILLE — A bugler played the somber tones of taps inside Church of the Incarnation Friday, March 28, as family and friends paid tribute to fallen Army Spc. David S. Stelmat Jr.
The 27-year-old member of the New Hampshire Army National Guard was killed in Iraq on March 22.
The Rev. Pete Helmlinger told more than 60 people who gathered for the memorial Mass that Stelmat made the ultimate sacrifice.
“He died young but he gave a full life,” the priest said, referring to him as “D.J.”
Helmlinger said an online guestbook signed by those who knew him well ranged from a teacher who recalled how he used to crack up his classmates to fellow comrades in Iraq whom he inspired.
“The one thing that stands out with D.J. is how much people loved him,” Helmlinger said.
Stelmat had been in the Army and fought as an infantryman in Afghanistan. After he was discharged, he enlisted in the New Hampshire Army National Guard and served as a medic with the 237th Military Police Company.
He was killed with two other soldiers traveling in a Humvee when a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad. They were with the 1132nd Military Police Company of the North Carolina Army National Guard — the unit Stelmat was attached to as a medic.
His father David Stelmat Sr., stepmother Teresa and siblings Eric and Stephanie live in Centerville.
A funeral service will be held Monday in New Hampshire, where his mother lives. It’s where he spent most of his life and where he’ll be buried.
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Comments
By bob
March 30, 2008 2:50 AM | Link to this
REST IN PEACE SOLDIER. I AM VERY GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY.By Ted Stelmat
March 28, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this
I am very proud of you DJ. Thank-you for your service to our country. You are the best of all of us. You will never be forgotten, and you will be terribly missed. Uncle Ted