Army Staff Sgt. Jeremiah E. McNeal

Remember Our Heroes

Army Staff Sgt. Jeremiah E. McNeal, 23, of Norfolk, Va.

SSgt. McNeal was assigned to the 237th Engineer Company, 276th Engineer Battalion, 91st Troop Command, Virginia Army National Guard, West Point, Va.; died April 6, 2008 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.

The Virginian-Pilot -- A National Guardsman from Norfolk was killed Sunday in Iraq, the Defense Department said Tuesday night.

Staff Sgt. Jeremiah E. McNeal, 23, died of wounds he suffered in Baghdad when a vehicle he was in came into contact with an improvised explosive device, a Defense Department statement said.

McNeal was assigned to the 237th Engineer Company, 276th Engineer Battalion, 91st Troop Command of the Virginia Army National Guard in West Point.

McNeal’s specialty was as a combat engineer, the Virginia National Guard said in a statement.

“He was part of our brotherhood that can never be replaced,” Capt. Beau Mason, the commander of the 237th Engineer Company, said in the statement. “Our mission is dangerous, yet Staff Sgt. McNeal faced it with a cheerful smile and alleviated the fears of many soldiers solely through his presence. It will be impossible to fill that gap that has been left through the loss of Staff Sgt. McNeal.”

National Guard staff are meeting with McNeal’s family and making resources available to them.

Army Staff Sgt. Jeremiah E. McNeal was killed in action on 4/6/08.