RELEASED BY Lt Col. Greg Hapgood

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

FUNERAL SERVICE SCHEDULED FOR IOWAN 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 Army National Guard Soldiers were killed in the crash, from the following states: Iowa, Arkansas, Maryland, Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
 

Funeral services have been scheduled for 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 currently under investigation. A total of 12 Soldiers were killed in the crash. Ten of those Soldiers were members of the Army National Guard from the following states: Iowa, Arkansas, Maryland, Virginia, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two Soldiers killed in the crash were from the U.S. Army.
 

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.
 

Funeral services are scheduled as follows:
 

Services for Command Sgt. Maj. Gabbard will begin with a visitation from 3-8 p.m., Monday, Jan. 29, at Central Christian Church, 803 Greene Street, Boone, with the family present from 6 to 8 p.m. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 30, at the Boone High School gymnasium, 500 7th Street, Boone. Burial will be conducted at the Fairview Cemetery in Madrid (west of Madrid High School), with full military honors conducted by the Iowa Army National Guard.
 

Gabbard will be posthumously awarded the following awards and decorations: Bronze Star, Iraq Campaign Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, and Legion of Merit. Additional awards may be presented at a later date pending completion of incident investigation.
 

Memorials may be directed to the Gabbard family in care of Schroeder-Walter Funeral Home, 503 Story Street, Boone, Iowa 50036 for future disposition.
 

-Media Information for Visitation, Funeral, and Graveside services-
 

The Gabbard family asks that their privacy and the dignity of Marilyn’s funeral be respected. No media coverage will be allowed at the visitation and no interviews will be granted by the family at the funeral or graveside services. Per the family’s wishes, media pool coverage is available for the funeral service as follows:
 

Video and audio uplink will be provided by KCCI-TV via Satellite IA 8, Transponder K 24, Channel H6 from 10:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30. For questions contact Tom Torpy at KCCI: (515) 247-8841 or ttorpy@hearst.com
 

Still images will be provided by the Des Moines Register. To coordinate distribution, contact Don Tormey at (515) 284-8708 or dtormey@dmreg.com , or Christopher Gannon at (515) 284-8515 or cgannon@dmreg.com.
 

No other cameras or recording devices will be allowed inside Boone High School. Reporters may attend the funeral service and discretely take notes, but no interviews will be conducted inside the school. News photographers may set up across the street from the school and may also cover the graveside ceremony from a respectful distance at the cemetery. The point of contact for media at the funeral and graveside services will be Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood (see below for contact information).
 

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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