Corporal Sascha Struble, 20, died Wednesday, April 6, 2005, while on duty with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.
The funeral is at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Cutler Funeral Home, LaPorte, with the Rev. Merlin Bray and the Rev. James Beversdorf officiating. Burial will follow in Hanna Cemetery.
Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. until the service Wednesday at the funeral home.
Full military honors will be conducted at the funeral home and cemetery.
Corporal Struble was born June 19, 1984, in Bad Bruckenau, Germany.
Teacher remembers a former student who died in Afghanistan
By Deborah Sederberg, The News-Dispatch
As a teacher, Tom Murray deems it a privilege to discover a unique vision in a student.
He saw that bit of magic in the work of former student Sascha Struble, Murray recalled Friday.
"Sascha was very talented," he said. "You could see the care in his work."
A teacher of photography at Indian River Central High School near Philadelphia, New York, Murray was enormously saddened when he got word of Struble's death.
Struble, who was 20 years old and had lived for a time in LaPorte County, died April 6 in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan about 80 miles south of the capital, Kabul. The CH-47 helicopter in which he was a passenger was carrying 18 people when it went down in a desert. According to a report from The Associated Press, strong winds may have caused the crash. There was no sign of enemy fire.
All 18 passengers died.
An Army corporal, Struble graduated from Indian River Central High School in 2002 and enlisted in the Army that same year.
Struble was born in Germany. He most recently lived just a few miles from Fort Drum, the Army base in upstate New York.
"It's a huge base," Murray noted.
Ironically, he added, "all the helicopters come here to be refurbished."
Struble's father also served in the Army.
His father, Michael J. (Teresa) Struble, survives in Hanna. His mother is Heidi (Jeff) Deshazo of Erin, Tenn. He also is survived by three brothers, Michael Struble of Erin, Tony Doms of Hanna, and Nick Doms of Fort Sill, Oklahoma; two sisters, Courtney Struble and Jessica Doms of Hanna; and grandparents Tony and Marcy Finch of Lorida, Florida, Don and Betty Struble of Joliet, Ill., Renate Knoben of Germany and Bobbie Johnson of Hanna.
Struble played baseball and football at Indian River High School, Murray recalled. His former teammates are devastated, the teacher said.
The secretary who answered the telephone when The News-Dispatch contacted the high school said, "We're all mourning for Sascha."
After his stint in the Army, Murray said, Struble wanted to learn more about photography. He served in Korea and in Italy before being deployed to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Struble served as a paralegal, a non-commissioned officer attached to the Judge Advocate General's office.
"He was a bright kid," Murray said of Struble.
"He e-mailed me pictures he took in Italy."
Struble enjoyed taking digital photos and then manipulating them with a computer. He had the vision of an artist, Murray said. He always had a sense of what he wanted to see in his pieces.
On Friday, Murray was having a hard time accepting the death of a talented former student with seemingly limitless potential.
"He was just a teriffic kid," Murray said. "Everybody loved him.
"He would have been everybody's favorite kid in any setting."
School officials hope to work with Struble's family to sell prints of his photographs to raise money for a scholarship fund in his name.
"Already, gift shops are starting to call to ask if we have any of his pictures. They want to sell them," Murray said. "But of course we won't do anything until we talk with his family."
Locally, the family has suggested that memorials may be made to the Sascha Struble Scholarship Fund in care of Cutler Funeral Home in LaPorte.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Sascha Struble, please visit our flower store.
The funeral is at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Cutler Funeral Home, LaPorte, with the Rev. Merlin Bray and the Rev. James Beversdorf officiating. Burial will follow in Hanna Cemetery.
Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. until the service Wednesday at the funeral home.
Full military honors will be conducted at the funeral home and cemetery.
Corporal Struble was born June 19, 1984, in Bad Bruckenau, Germany.
Teacher remembers a former student who died in Afghanistan
By Deborah Sederberg, The News-Dispatch
As a teacher, Tom Murray deems it a privilege to discover a unique vision in a student.
He saw that bit of magic in the work of former student Sascha Struble, Murray recalled Friday.
"Sascha was very talented," he said. "You could see the care in his work."
A teacher of photography at Indian River Central High School near Philadelphia, New York, Murray was enormously saddened when he got word of Struble's death.
Struble, who was 20 years old and had lived for a time in LaPorte County, died April 6 in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan about 80 miles south of the capital, Kabul. The CH-47 helicopter in which he was a passenger was carrying 18 people when it went down in a desert. According to a report from The Associated Press, strong winds may have caused the crash. There was no sign of enemy fire.
All 18 passengers died.
An Army corporal, Struble graduated from Indian River Central High School in 2002 and enlisted in the Army that same year.
Struble was born in Germany. He most recently lived just a few miles from Fort Drum, the Army base in upstate New York.
"It's a huge base," Murray noted.
Ironically, he added, "all the helicopters come here to be refurbished."
Struble's father also served in the Army.
His father, Michael J. (Teresa) Struble, survives in Hanna. His mother is Heidi (Jeff) Deshazo of Erin, Tenn. He also is survived by three brothers, Michael Struble of Erin, Tony Doms of Hanna, and Nick Doms of Fort Sill, Oklahoma; two sisters, Courtney Struble and Jessica Doms of Hanna; and grandparents Tony and Marcy Finch of Lorida, Florida, Don and Betty Struble of Joliet, Ill., Renate Knoben of Germany and Bobbie Johnson of Hanna.
Struble played baseball and football at Indian River High School, Murray recalled. His former teammates are devastated, the teacher said.
The secretary who answered the telephone when The News-Dispatch contacted the high school said, "We're all mourning for Sascha."
After his stint in the Army, Murray said, Struble wanted to learn more about photography. He served in Korea and in Italy before being deployed to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Struble served as a paralegal, a non-commissioned officer attached to the Judge Advocate General's office.
"He was a bright kid," Murray said of Struble.
"He e-mailed me pictures he took in Italy."
Struble enjoyed taking digital photos and then manipulating them with a computer. He had the vision of an artist, Murray said. He always had a sense of what he wanted to see in his pieces.
On Friday, Murray was having a hard time accepting the death of a talented former student with seemingly limitless potential.
"He was just a teriffic kid," Murray said. "Everybody loved him.
"He would have been everybody's favorite kid in any setting."
School officials hope to work with Struble's family to sell prints of his photographs to raise money for a scholarship fund in his name.
"Already, gift shops are starting to call to ask if we have any of his pictures. They want to sell them," Murray said. "But of course we won't do anything until we talk with his family."
Locally, the family has suggested that memorials may be made to the Sascha Struble Scholarship Fund in care of Cutler Funeral Home in LaPorte.