Army Pfc. Derek D. Holland

Remember Our Heroes

Army Pfc. Derek D. Holland, 20, of Wind Gap, Pa.

Pfc. Holland was assigned to the 228th Brigade Support Battalion, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Bethlehem, Pa.; died June 3, 2008 in Zormat, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.

2 soldiers from Pa. killed in Iraq, Afghanistan

The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Two soldiers from Pennsylvania have been killed in the Middle East, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

Pvt. Joshua Waltenbaugh, 19, of Kittanning Township, was killed by small-arms fire in Iraq on Tuesday, his family said.

Spc. Derek Holland, a National Guard soldier from Wind Gap in eastern Pennsylvania, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Tuesday afternoon, according to military officials.

The bomb, which struck Holland’s Humvee near the town of Zormat, also killed an Air Force major serving with the Provincial Reconstruction Team and wounded the vehicle’s gunner.

Holland, 20, was a 2006 graduate of Pen Argyl High School and enlisted in the National Guard during his senior year. He was attached to the 228th Brigade Support Battalion in Bethlehem.

“He was one of the most dedicated soldiers I have known,” said Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Horner, Holland’s supervisor. “He just wanted to do his part in serving his county. He wanted to do the job he came in to do.”

Holland was enrolled in the information systems technology program at the Career Institute of Technology, a vocational-technical school that serves students from Pen Argyl.

His teacher at CIT, Andra Groller, said Holland was shy when he first arrived. He became interested in the military in his senior year and hoped to combine it with his computer education, she said.

“He was a very quiet ... thoughtful kind of person,” said John Smith, principal of Pen Argyl High School, who announced Holland’s death at a faculty meeting Thursday morning. “We had a moment of prayer for him.”

Army Pfc. Derek D. Holland was killed in action on 06/03/08.