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JAMESTOWN, Pa. -- Gov. John Baldacci on Monday confirmed that two Maine
soldiers died in a weekend attack in Iraq, and a third soldier from the same
unit was seriously injured. Staff Sgt. Dale James Kelly Jr., of Richmond,
and Staff Sgt. David Michael Veverka, a student from the University of Maine
from Jamestown, Pa., were killed in the roadside bomb attack on Saturday.
Both soldiers were members of B Company, 3-172 Infantry Battalion, of the
Maine Army National Guard.

Veverka's family told The Herald newspaper in Sharon, Pa., that they were
awakened by
state police and an Army officer early Sunday morning. Veverka's mother,
Carol Polley, said she and his stepfather were told that Veverka died in a
military hospital near Baghdad a few hours after the blast that targeted his
convoy.

Defense Department officials have not released any information about his
death. Veverka graduated from Jamestown High School in 1998, where he was a
standout basketball player. His family said Veverka joined the Army to help
pay for college and joined the Maine National Guard while studying for his
bachelor's degree in wildlife ecology at the University of Maine in Bangor.

His National Guard unit was activated in January and he went to Iraq in
mid-March. Polley said her son wasn't afraid and was excited about going to
Iraq. She quoted him as saying, "Mom, I'm OK, everything's cool." The third
soldier, Pvt. Christopher Fraser, of Windsor, from the 1136th Transportation
Company and attached to B Company, was seriously injured in the attack and
has been transferred to medical facilities in Germany. The governor's office
said his injuries were not life-threatening.

The governor will order flags around the state be flown at half-staff on the
days of the soldiers' funerals.