
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas soldier serving with the 875th Engineer Battalion in Iraq has died in the war, the Arkansas National Guard said in a Memorial Day news release Monday.
Spc. Erich S. Smallwood of Trumann died near Balad, Iraq, on Saturday after an improvised explosive device blew up near his vehicle.
Smallwood, 23, was a member of Company B based in Marked Tree, but was serving with the battalion’s Company A from Jonesboro during deployment.
Maj. Gen. William D. Wofford, the guard’s adjutant general, said Smallwood’s death was “another heartbreaking loss” for the state and for the country.
“But, today, as we honor all of our men and women in...