On the holiday originally known as Decoration Day, Bleeding Heartland has often remembered the Iowans who died in wartime service. Sometimes, years have gone by with no new Iowa fatalities in a war theater.
Tragedy struck twice this past year, killing four Iowans deployed in the Middle East. Staff Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard and Staff Sergeant Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar died in Syria, where they were ambushed in December.
Major Jeffrey O’Brien and Sergeant Declan Coady, Army Reserve soldiers assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, died on March 1 after a drone hit their unit in Kuwait. They were among the first U.S. casualties in the war against Iran…