An Iowan who died in Iraq last week will be buried today. Nineteen-year-old Brandon Sturdy of Urbandale died last Thursday when a homemade bomb blew up west of Baghdad, near Fallujah. Sturdy was a Marine, serving as a machine gunner. He’s the 14th soldier with Iowa tied to be killed while serving in Iraq. Sturdy’s funeral at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Urbandale is being held just blocks away from the Urbandale school gymnasium where he and other classmates gathered just one year ago for high school graduation. Sturdy is survived by his parents, Robert and Shelly Rivera and David Sturdy, all of whom live in Urbandale, and his fiancee, Tricia Johnson, who’s from Grimes.
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