Michael A. Dahl Jr., Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Michael A. Dahl Jr., 23

Army, Specialist
Based: Ft. Lewis, Wash.
1st Batallion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: October 17, 2009
Argahndab, Afghanistan
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Beaumont
High School: Beaumont Senior High (Beaumont)
Burial: Riverside National Cemetery

Mikey i think about u every day that goes by its so hard for me an the rest of the family i miss u so much RIP MIKEY

— anthony dahl
September 3, 2010 at 1:25 a.m.

From the LA Times:

It was always important to to be responsible, to support himself and his family and shield them from worry.

"He was an inspiration to me," said his mother, Patricia Dahl, 42, who is divorced from her son's father. "Sometimes it's hard being a single parent. But he kept me going."

An Army crewman on armored vehicles, he never told her that he was fighting on the front lines.


The last time she talked to her son, he told her not to worry, that he was going on his last mission and he probably wouldn't be able to talk to her for a few days.


Two days later, on , Army Spc. Dahl, 23, of Beaumont, Calif., was killed Beaumont, Calif.,when his tank was hit by a roadside bomb in Arghandab in southwest Afghanistan's Kandahar province, on the Pakistani border.

Dahl had deployed in July from Ft. Lewis, Wash., with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. He was due home on leave in November.

His mother last saw him in March. She said he described harsh living conditions in Afghanistan -- tents pitched near stinking, open sewers. He attended Bible study regularly, she said, and filled his digital camera with photographs of villages and local people.

"He felt compassion for them," she said.

Dahl was born and raised in the small town of Beaumont in Riverside County. He was a shy child who played piano and spent hours in his room sketching buildings in minute detail.

He left Beaumont High School before graduating to work two jobs, as a clerk at a Calvin Klein outlet by day and a stock clerk at a Stater Bros. market by night.

He earned his diploma in 2003, according to military records.

He lived at home with his mother; his 16-year-old brother, A.J.; and a pit bull, Girl. Settling down with a family of his own would have to wait -- he told his mother he needed steady work and a house first.

Read more about Army Specialist Michael A. Dahl Jr. here, here and here.

The body of Army Specialist Michael Dahl Jr., 23, The body of Army Specialist Michael Dahl Jr., 23, of Beaumont, is brought off a C-17 aircraft during a Dignified Transfer ceremeony Monday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.