South Sioux City Tribute

Country was all to Navy man killed in war

(Photo; Caption This photo of Master-at-Arms 1st Class John Douangdara was displayed at Sunday’s memorial service in South Sioux City. The Navy police officer died last month when the helicopter he was in was shot down in Afghanistan.)

John Douangdara died in Afghanistan with 29 U.S. comrades and his combat assault dog.

South Sioux City, Neb. – John Douangdara died serving the country that welcomed his immigrant parents 31 years ago.

“It is a loss to our country,” said Mary Wiltgen, Douangdara’s high school mock trial coach. “He was extraordinary.”

Military personnel, police, firefighters and civilians filed into Marina Inn Convention Center on Sunday for a memorial service for Master-at-Arms 1st Class Douangdara, 26. About 300 people attended.

The 26-year-old native of South Sioux City, Neb., was a Navy Special Warfare member who handled a dog for Navy SEAL Team Six. Douangdara was killed Aug. 6 in Afghanistan’s Wardak province when a rocket-propelled grenade shot down a transport helicopter. Killed were 30 Americans, including nearly two dozen Navy SEALs, and eight Afghans.

Also killed was Bart, Douangdara’s German shepherd, a combat assault dog. Another dog that Douangdara worked with, Toby, was killed several years ago while the two were on a mission.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~