By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Three separate incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan on Friday claimed the life of two Missourians and an Illinoisan.
The Pentagon says National Guard soldier Alva Gaylord died Friday in a bombing near Baghdad. He was from the northwest Missouri town of Carollton and was with the 110th Engineering Battalion, of Lexingon, Mo.
Family members are confirming the death of a central Missouri Marine, also in a roadside bombing. Lance Corporal Leon Deraps, 19, was from Jamestown, Mo.
The Post-Dispatch reports Deraps is the grandson of a well-known anti-war activist in St. Louis, Bud Deraps.
In the third incident, family members also say a 28-year old Army soldier from the southern Illinois town of Effingham died Friday in a crash in Afghanistan. Brian Donaldson was one of 10 soldiers to die in that crash.