Reply #59: New one from my area in CT

[NewJeffCT]

I knew this kid casually back when he was in high school...link contains a picture. Kid was coming home soon and was getting married this summer. He was planning on settling down and becoming a teacher.

Captain `Big E' Naturally A Leader
Fatally Wounded In Mortar Attack

January 7, 2004
By DAVID OWENS, And DANIELA ALTIMARI Courant Staff Writers

Growing up in Farmington and West Hartford, Eric Thomas Paliwoda distinguished himself as a student, an athlete and a natural leader.

So when colleges came calling for the 6-foot-6 forward on Conard High School's basketball team, it was the U.S. Military Academy at West Point that won his heart. An Army career followed, and that took Paliwoda, 28, to Iraq.

http://www.ctnow.com/news/custom/newsat3/hc-whdiraq0107.artjan07,1,4664766.story?coll=hc-headlines-newsat3