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Crash in Mosul kills Minnesota soldier
by Dan Olson, Minnesota Public Radio
August 24, 2005

Pfc. Elden D. Arcand, 22, of White Bear Lake was killed Sunday in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq. (Courtesy of Kelly Freudenberg)

The mother of Elden Arcand says he enlisted in the Army so others wouldn't have to serve. His Forest Lake family learned Monday the 22-year old Army Private First Class was killed in Iraq. He is the 26th Minnesotan to die as a result of injuries sustained in the war.

Forest Lake, Minn. — Kelly Freudenberg says her son enlisted in the Army soon after graduating from Forest Lake High School and was considering re-enlisting. She says he wanted to be assigned to Iraq so that others wouldn't have to serve.

"He said, 'Mom, if I join and I go over there that means someone else gets to come home and be with their family.' He just had great heart," she says.

The Defense Department says Elden Arcand's fuel supply truck overturned on a road Sunday night in the northern Iraq city of Mosul. Officials say he was thrown from the vehicle, and it rolled onto him. Another soldier, 38-year old Staff Sgt. Brian Morris of Centreville, Michigan also died in the crash.

Freudenberg says her son told her the American troops have the support of the people he saw on his missions.

"He was very proud to be over there. He believed in what he was doing, and I do know he said this to me. The Iraqi people, one of the missions he was going on, all the people, the kids were standing alongside the road as they were going by and they all were smiling at them and waving at them and they were happy they were there. And they love our troops being over there, and their greatest concern is that our troops are going to leave," she says.

A growing number of mothers of U. S. military personnel killed in Iraq are protesting this country's continued involvement. Freudenberg says she won't be joining them even though she says she understands their feelings.

"You know, my reaction is one of compassion and love and sympathy with them. It hurts. We've lost our babies. Irreplaceable. These women are hurting. This is their way of showing their hurt. I can't speak against them. I'm not going to join them in that manner because I do believe in the war, I do support President Bush, but I hurt for them, I pray for them, they need our prayers, they're hurting mothers," she says.