Fallen soldier saved comrade's life

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Veverka also awarded posthumous degree

By Tom Davidson The Sharon Herald Mon May 15, 2006, 06:44 PM EDT

JAMESTOWN — His hometown knew him as a friend and role model. His nation will remember him as a hero.

Staff Sgt. David Michael Veverka, a 25-year-old Jamestown native, pulled a fellow soldier down into the cover of their truck as a roadside bomb exploded on May 6.

Veverka, a University of Maine student and National Guardsman, was killed in the blast with Sgt. Dale James Kelly Jr., 48, of Richmond, Maine.

But Pvt. Chris Fraser, 19, of Windsor, Maine, is alive thanks to the actions of his fellow soldiers.

“He saved Chris’ life,” Fraser’s mother, Debra Gosselin, of Gardiner, Maine, said of Veverka.

“He’s a hero,” Ms. Gosselin said.

Veverka pulled her son to cover and Kelly taught him how to self-administer intravenous medications that helped him survive his injuries, she said.

Fraser told his mother that Kelly, Veverka and he were riding in the front truck of a convoy when they came upon a man with two young children. The man apparently threw a bomb at the truck, which exploded just as Veverka pulled her son down into the vehicle, Mrs. Gosselin said.

“That was David,” Ronald Veverka said of his son’s actions.

His voice stuck with pride when he talked about his son, the hero.

“That’s the way David was. I am so proud,” Ronald Veverka said.

Sgt. Veverka was also honored by the University of Maine, in Bangor, over the weekend at commencement, where he was posthumously awarded his bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology.

He was eight credits shy of completing his studies when he was killed.

“We received the degree, and the letter they wrote is just wonderful,” Ronald Veverka said. “It’s just truly an honor and it wasn’t supposed to happen (this way), but I’m grateful for everything that’s going on now.”

“There’re no words to describe” the outpouring of support from the people in the Jamestown area, he said.

“I don’t know how to thank everybody,” he said. “It has helped so much. I am going to miss him.”

Sgt. Veverka’s calling hours are from noon to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. today at Randall Funeral Home, 416 Liberty St., Jamestown. His Mass of Christian burial will be at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday in the chapel of Arlington (Va.) National Cemetery.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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