For Release
June 1, 2004

Eggers Memorial Fund information

1997 graduate dies in Afghanistan

           Army Capt. Daniel William Eggers, Class of '97, died May 29 in Afghanistan. He is the sixth Citadel graduate to die in the war on terror.             

Daniel Eggers in a 1996 yearbook photo.

           According to news accounts quoting his parents, Eggers, 28, was one of four soldiers killed when their Humvee entered a field of land mines in Zabul's mountainous Sorie district in southeastern Afghanistan.

           Eggers came to The Citadel in 1993. A member of Echo Company, he majored in civil engineering before switching to history. He graduated in 1997 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant infantry officer. He completed Special Forces training in 2002 and was assigned to 1st Battalion 3rd Special Forces Group as a detachment
commander.

           While in college, Eggers served as a sophomore company clerk and company corporal. He participated in Ranger Challenge and Cordele Airborne Rangers and was the recipient of a four-year Army scholarship and a one-year Citadel Foundation scholarship. He also received the Department of the Army's Superior Cadet Medal.          

Daniel Eggers in a recent photo provided by the Eggers family and the Nashua Telegraph in Nashua, N.H.

           Eggers joins five other Citadel graduates who have died in service to their country:

• U.S. Army Capt. Christopher James Kenny of Miami, Fla., died May 3 in Iraq. Kenny was a member of Lima Company. He graduated in 1993 with a degree in history.
• Charles Henry Buehring, 40, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, died Oct. 26, 2003. He was a 1985 graduate.
• Lt. Peter Ober, 27, a member of the Class of 1998 and a Navy helicopter pilot, died July 16th.
• Marine Capt. Benjamin Sammis, 29, of Rehoboth, Mass., died April 5. A Cobra helicopter pilot, he graduated in 1996.
• Marine 1st Lt. Therrel Shane Childers, a member of The Citadel Class of 2001, died in combat on March 21 in Iraq. He was 30 and
  reportedly the first American casualty of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Childers attended The Citadel as an active duty Marine, attending classes as a day student in the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program.
  

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