
RACINE, Wis. — An Army tank driver who joined the military to get experience driving big equipment was killed in Iraq on his second tour of duty and two weeks before he was to come home to visit, his father said Monday.
Spc. Eric Poelman, 21, of Racine, was killed Sunday, his father, Matt Poelman, said in a telephone interview from his home in Longview, Texas. The father and mother, who moved to Texas about a year ago, were awaiting word from the military on exactly what happened, other than that their son was engaged in battle, the father said.
“Thank the Lord we were able to talk with him on Saturday,” the father said. “He had experienced the atrocities of war, just difficult...