Sunday ceremony to honor western IA soldier

A special ceremony is scheduled Sunday to honor a western Iowa soldier who was killed earlier this summer in Iraq. Twenty-two-year-old Sergeant Casey Byers of Schleswig died June 11th when a bomb exploded beneath his armored Humvee. Sergeant William Smith, a member of the Iowa National Guard unit in Denison, is among those working on the project to honor Byers. “Soldiers in the unit wanted something at the armory to remember Casey,” he says. They decided to get a memorial bench, and they’ll put it out in front of the armory. The dedication ceremony will be held at 10:30 Sunday morning.