Coalition identifies Ft. Bragg commando killed in Iraqi raid

MULDROW, Okla. (AP) – The first American soldier to die in combat against the Islamic State group in Iraq has been identified as a 20-year Army veteran and Oklahoma native who had been deployed 11 times to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2004.

Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, was identified by coalition officials Friday as the person killed during a compound raid near the city of Kirkuk.

High school friends said Wheeler, who graduated from Muldrow High School in 1994, enlisted in the Army when he was 19.

April Isa, an English teacher at Muldrow High School, graduated with Wheeler. She remembered a funny, quiet teen with long hair who “would keep you in stitches.”

In Muldrow and Roland, towns where Wheeler grew up and some family members live, flags were lowered to half-staff.

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