Updated: 07/26/2009 1:45 AM KSTP.com | Print Story
By: Luke Garrison & Nicole Muehlhausen

Woodbury Mourns the Loss of Spc. Dan Drevnick

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Friends, family and strangers gathered on Saturday to remember and bury Spc. Daniel Drevnick who was killed in Iraq on July 16.

Drevnick was part of the 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, and died alongside two other soldiers in an indirect fire attack in Iraq's second largest city of Basra.

More than 200 members of Minnesota's Patriot Guard were on hand to pay tribute to a man who made the ultimate sacrifice. Some of them did not even know Drevnick, but feel forever indebted to him for his service to the country.

"As long as there is a military member anywhere in the world who is willing to put themselves in harm's way and make the ultimate sacrifice, we will stand," said Patriot Guard Doug Bley.

Drevnick's funeral was held in Woodbury. The 22-year-old was buried at Ft. Snelling National Cemetary in St. Paul.

Drevnick's father, a former State Trooper, carried his son's casket along with other troopers. Since Drevnick's casket arrived in Minnesota, it has had an escort by the State Patrol. Drevnick wanted to follow in his father's footsteps.

Spc. James Wertish, 20, and Spc. Carlos Wilcox, 27, were also killed.

A funeral for Wertish will be held at 11 a.m. Monday in his hometown of Olivia at St. Mary's Catholic Church.

Wilcox was honored Friday at Light the Way Church in Cottage Grove. He will be buried Tuesday at the New Albany National Cemetery in Indiana.

A fourth Minnesota soldier--Spc. Jacob Benson, 22, of Willmar--was injured in the same attack. He says pieces of shrapnel were found in his arm and back after the attack. He also suffered bruises from being thrown by the explosion.