Minnesota soldier killed in Iraq
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Staff Sgt. Kevin M. Witte, 27, of Beardsley, died Friday in Baghdad, the Defense Department said.
Witte was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division based in Baumholder, Germany. His wife and son live in Germany.
Witte's aunt, Beardsley Mayor Mary Sykora, said Witte was well-known and well-liked in the small farm town and residents were struggling to accept his death.
"Nobody can believe it," Sykora told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "Everyone feels their pain."
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"Kevin was a good kid and he was very proud of what he did," she said, adding that he had a lot of medals for his military service.
Witte had returned to Beardsley earlier this year for the funeral of his father, Marvin, she said.
Witte's stepmother, Rhonda Witte, didn't want to speak publicly about his death.
Witte, a 1997 graduate of Beardsley High School, was the 45th Minnesotan to die in connection with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.