RELEASED BY Lt Col. Greg Hapgood

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER
OFFICE:   (515) 252-4582
CELL:       (515) 971-6385
HOME:     (515) 986-5725

***CORRECTION***

IOWA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIER KILLED IN IRAQ

The Iowa National Guard regrets to announce the death of Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City. Gabbard was killed when the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter in which she was a passenger crashed northeast of Baghdad on Saturday, Jan. 20 at approximately 2:45 p.m., local Iraq time. The cause of the incident is still under investigation. A total of 12 Soldiers were killed in the crash. Two Soldiers killed in the crash were from the U.S. Army, and 10 of those Soldiers are members of the Army National Guard from the following states: Iowa, Arkansas, Maryland, Virginia, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
 

Gabbard deployed from Iowa on Dec. 16, 2006, assuming her duties as the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the National Guard Affairs Team in Baghdad, Iraq on Dec. 26.
 

Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn Lea Gabbard was born Oct. 29, 1960, in Boone, Iowa to Melvin L. and Mary Van Cannon. She graduated from Boone High School in 1979.
 

Gabbard began her 27-year military career as a private in the Iowa Army National Guard in October 1979, serving as a personnel management specialist with Detachment 2, 47th Adjutant General Company, Boone. She last served as the State Operations Sergeant Major at the Iowa National Guard’s Joint Forces Headquarters in Johnston.
 

Upon her promotion to Command Sergeant Major on April 1, 2001, Gabbard became the Iowa National Guard’s first female Command Sergeant Major and only the second woman promoted to Sergeant Major in the Iowa National Guard. Among her military decorations are three awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, which is bestowed to “members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguished themselves by outstanding non-combat meritorious achievement or service to the United States.”
 

She has also served as the national Secretary for the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, as Past President (Army) of the Enlisted Association of the Iowa National Guard and as Past President of the Iowa Sergeants Major Association.
 

Gabbard is survived by her husband, Edward, daughter Melissa (Ben) Danielson, step-son Terry (Cathy) Gabbard, step-daughters Sherri Gabbard, Kerri (Rick) Wilson, Gerri Gabbard, Mari Jo (Harold) Scott, and Deborah (Michael) Pommier, her mother Mary Van Cannon, sister Marla Norem, and brothers Mark Van Cannon and Mike (Carol) Van Cannon; her grandchildren, Benjamin and Austin Danielson and step-grandchildren, Paul Gabbard, Sunnie (Sean) Robinson, Christopher Gabbard, Cassandra, Brianne and Courtney Wilson, Jessica and Jeremy Scott, and Kayla Pommier.
 

The Gabbard family asks that their privacy be respected at this time. All media queries are to be handled through the Iowa National Guard Public Affairs Office. Additional information regarding funeral arrangements and visitation will be provided in the future.
 

For questions concerning this news release as well as additional information about the operations, training, and activities of the Iowa Army and Air National Guard, please contact Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, Iowa National Guard Public Affairs Officer by e-mail at gregory.hapgood@ia.ngb.army.mil or (515) 252-4582 (office), (515) 971-6385 (cell), (515) 986-5725 (home). You may also contact Master Sgt. Duff E. McFadden, at (515) 252-4666 (office) or (515) 480-7647 (cell), or by e-mail at duff.mcfadden@ia.ngb.army.mil.

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IOWA NATIONAL GUARD
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