Published: October 28, 2009 09:04 pm         

Terre Haute soldier killed in Afghanistan

U.S. Army Sgt. Dale Griffin — a TH South graduate — killed by roadside bomb

TERRE HAUTE — A Terre Haute serviceman was among several U.S. military service personnel killed Tuesday in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Sgt. Dale Russel Griffin, a 1999 Terre Haute South Vigo High School graduate, died after the vehicle in which he was traveling with several other soldiers was struck by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

Griffin, who was a part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, joined the Army immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to his mother, Dona Griffin, who was interviewed by the Tribune-Star earlier this month. At the time of that interview, Dona Griffin and husband Gene were leading volunteers at the Terre Haute Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints making about 40 blankets for U.S. servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While a senior at Terre Haute South, Dale Griffin was the state runner-up in wrestling in the 189-pound weight class. The following year, he won his weight class to help lead the Virginia Military Institute to a fourth-place finish in the All-Academy Wrestling Championship in 2000 at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He was named that tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

News reports from Afghanistan state that roadside bombs — also known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs — claimed the lives of eight American soldiers in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Seven military service members and an Afghan civilian were killed in one attack when an IED struck the vehicle in which they were riding while on patrol. An eighth soldier was killed in a separate attack, also by a roadside bomb blast.

According to an unnamed U.S. defense official quoted by the Associated Press, at least one of Tuesday’s blasts was followed by an intense exchange of gunfire with insurgents. A total of 55 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan this month.

Funeral arrangements for Dale Griffin are pending.



Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

     

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