
DEERFIELD, Mass. — An Army officer who grew up in Deerfield with a love of cooking was killed in Iraq.
Sgt. Gregory Belanger, 24, of Narragansett, R.I., was with the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion, attached to the 94th Regional Readiness Command, when the convoy was attacked Aug. 27.
According to the Army, initial reports show that Belanger was killed in Hallia, Iraq, when an explosive struck his vehicle.
Belanger is the first soldier from Rhode Island to die in Iraq since the start of U.S.-led military operations there, according to the Pentagon.
His father, Ed Belanger, told The Recorder of Greenfield that his son enlisted in the...