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Third Minnesota soldier killed in Iraq
November 19, 2003

Northome, Minn. — A Northome man who grew up wanting to be a soldier, as his grandfather was, became the third Minnesotan killed in Iraq.

"We lost a son and a soldier," Arland Panchot said Wednesday of his son, Staff Sgt. Dale Panchot, 26, who was killed in the city of Balad, north of Baghdad. "We are going to miss him forever."

Dale Panchot died Monday when the Bradley Fighting Vehicle on which he was squad leader was attacked. The U.S. Central Command said the attackers fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

Northome is about 40 miles northeast of Bemidji, or about 200 miles north of the Twin Cities. The Panchots were told of their son's death on Monday.

"We are a small community," Arland Panchot told The Associated Press. "People surround you and pray for you. You can't put words to how comforting it is to have people that are available."

All three Minnesotans who have been killed in combat in Iraq died after President Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1.

Army Pfc. Edward James Herrgott, 20, of Shakopee, died when he was shot in the neck by a sniper in July while guarding the National Museum in Baghdad. Two months later, Staff Sgt. Brian R. Hellermann, 35, who grew up in Freeport, was killed when an Iraqi vehicle opened fire on his unit in Baghdad.

As of Tuesday, 422 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.

Dale Panchot was a 1996 graduate of Northome High School. He joined the Army Reserve at 17 and enlisted after completing one quarter at Hibbing Community College, his mother, Karen, told the Star Tribune. Based at Fort Carson, Colo., he left for Iraq on April 4, days after the war commenced, his mother said.

He had served nine years and told his parents in a last phone call about 10 days ago that he had re-enlisted for three more.

"Then he was going to go to college, which the Army was going to pay for," Karen Panchot told the newspaper. "He wanted to be a history teacher and raise a family, which he didn't want to try to do while he was still in the Army."

Arland Panchot said his son grew up wanting to imitate his grandfather, an Army veteran who fought for five years in the South Pacific during World War II.

"His grandson, our boy, worshipped the ground he walked on," he said.

Dale Panchot was baptized at Hope Lutheran Church in Northome. Pastor Roy Johnson had just visited Panchot's father and grandfather at the nursing home on Friday.

"The consensus was it looked pretty good for Dale. He was in a safe place, and everybody expected to see him come through and get home," Johnson said.

"He had told his parents that he was very, very concerned, that there were any number of these rocket launchers all over the place. One comment he had made was that he was thankful that they (the Iraqis) were such poor shots. Apparently they had been shot at any number of times."

Panchot played baseball, football and basketball at the small Northome High School, said Shane Swang of Mizpah, who graduated with Panchot.

Swang, who had exchanged letters with Panchot in Iraq, said Panchot dreamed of joining the military from the time he was young.

"He was born to do that. He was one of the very few people that from a very early age knew what they wanted to do, and got to do it."

Arland Panchot said his son never doubted the importance of his mission in Iraq.

"I know what he would say if he could talk right now, he'd say: 'Dad, there are 136,000 U.S. GIs over here right now doing a job that's got to be done. We're going to do it to the best of our ability, so pray for us."

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