Three Illinois National Guardsmen who were based out of Woodstock, one of which lived in Round Lake Beach, are being remembered 15 years after they were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
Friday was the 15-year anniversary of their deaths, according to the Illinois National Guard.
Sgt. Christopher Abeyta, 23, of Midlothian, Spc. Norman Cain III, 22, of Mount Morris, and Sgt. Robert Weinger, 24, of Round Lake Beach, died on March 15, 2009.
The three were traveling in a vehicle near Kot, Afghanistan when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED).
All three men were assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment based in Woodstock.
“Our thoughts are with their families and friends as they remember them today,” the Illinois National Guard said in a Facebook post.
Cain was married and a father of a son and a stepdaughter on his first deployment, while Abeyta and Weinger were single, the National Guard said at the time of the incident.
Weinger was in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, while Abeyta was deployed from October 2003 until early 2005 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, officials said.
Weinger graduated from Round Lake High School in 2002, Abeyta graduated from Bremen High School in Midlothian in 2003, and Cain graduated from Freeport High School in Freeport in 2006.