Associated Press
A 26-year-old Farmington High School graduate was one of four U.S. soldiers killed in a plane crash in northern Iraq.
Jeremy Fresques' family got word of his death on Memorial Day.
An Iraqi single-engine plane crashed near Jalula, about 80 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing the four Americans and the Iraqi pilot, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Fred Wellman announced Monday. The aircraft, one of seven used by the Iraqi air force for surveillance and personnel transport, was heading to Jalula from a Kirkuk air base, the military said.
Jeremy Fresques' mother, Sherry Fresques, said the family is devastated.
She and her husband, Nick, were flying to Hurlburt Field, Fla., on Wednesday for a memorial service for the soldiers.
Fresques, a first lieutenant in the Air Force's Special Forces, was deployed to the Middle East on Feb. 14. His family had expected him to return from Iraq in July.
"We don't even know exactly what he was doing because so much of the work they do in the Special Forces is top secret,'' his mother said Tuesday. "All we know was that he was part of a tactical operation.''
Sherry Fresques, who now lives in Arizona, said her son had told her: "Don't watch the news, Mom. Don't believe what you see on television. The American military is doing a lot of good in Iraq, and I'm proud to be part of the effort.''
His parents and brother Justin had moved to Arizona shortly after Jeremy Fresques graduated from high school.
Jeremy Fresques, a 1997 graduate of Farmington High, told his parents after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the East Coast that he felt compelled to do more for his country. He applied to the Special Forces.
Larry DeWees, former Farmington High principal, said Fresques "was a super kid, very involved, and truly honest.''
He is survived by his parents, his brother, and his wife, Capt. Lindsey Shaw, who is stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
news 
...go to bookmarks
E-mail Story
Print Friendly
