Iowan dies in military accident in Iraq

Residents of the town of Hamburg in the southwest corner of the state are mourning the loss of a native son killed in a military accident in Iraq. Military officials say 19-year-old Kenneth Nalley, a army private and military policeman, was killed when the humvee he was driving was hit by a larger vehicle on a road in Iraq on Monday. Officials say Nalley’s humvee was escorting a convoy of other military vehicles when the accident happened. Nalley was a 2002 graduate of Hamburg High School, and had joined the military last July. Bob Cooper is a mechanic at the Hamburg Oil Company where Nalley had worked for two years. He says Nalley wanted to be a law officer so he could help people.He says Nalley didn’t play sports, but he did participate in music. Cooper says Nalley didn’t smoke or drink as he was a very determined young man who knew what he wanted. Hamburg is a town of 12-hundred, and Cooper says residents are taking the news hard.He says there’s a lot of sorrow, as he says many people got to know Nalley well in the two years he worked at the full service station. Cooper says he watched Nalley mature and it’s almost like losing one of your own. Nalley is the third Iowan to die in the action in Iraq.