Chicago vigil honors soldiers, including Sgt. Jose Duenez, Jr. of Joliet, Illinois, who died in Lithuania
A vigil in Chicago Thursday night honored the four soldiers, including one from southwest suburban Joliet, who died in Lithuania during a training exercise.
Sgt. Jose Duenez, Jr., 25 of Joliet, Illinois; Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, 25, of Glendale, California; Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, 21, of Dededo, Guam; and Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins, 28, of Battle Creek, Michigan died when the vehicle they were in sunk in a bog during the scheduled exercise.
In Lithuania Thursday, people gathered near a cathedral to see a priest bless the hearses carrying the soldier's bodies. They were then taken to Vilnius Čiurlionis International Airport in the country's capital for repatriation.
The Chicago vigil was held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Wacker Drive at 8 p.m. It was hosted by the Lithuania Consulate and the Lithuanian National Guard.
"I know that everything is in God's hands," said the Rev. Jaunius Kelpšas of Nativity BVM Church, "but as a priest, I hardly understand sometimes why somebody needs to die so innocently, so accidentally."
Duenez was a tank mechanic in the Army, a job his friends said he loved. His friend Ben Muller said he will cherish the memories of his friend.
"My heart goes out to his family — you know, his wife, his kid, everybody around him," he said. "The other three soldiers that were killed, my heart goes out to them too."
