Columbia man among four soldiers killed by homemade bomb in Iraq

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- A Columbia, Mo., soldier was among four soldiers killed when a homemade bomb exploded near their vehicle in Iraq, the Army said Monday.

First Lt. William A. Edens, 29, of Columbia, died Thursday in Tal Afar, Iraq, when the bomb detonated near his Stryker military vehicle.

Edens and another victim, Sgt. Eric W. Morris, 31, of Sparks, Nev., were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.

The other two soldiers killed were Spc. Ricky W. Rockholt Jr. and Pfc. Robert W. Murray Jr., out of Fort Carson, Colo. Rockholt, 28, was from Winston, Ore. Murray, 21, was from Westfield, Ind. Both were assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

Edens attended the University of Missouri-Columbia and is an alumnus of Tiger Battalion, the university's unit of the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps, commanding officer Lt. Col. Kirk Wallace said. A 1993 graduate of Mehlville High School in St. Louis, Edens is survived by his wife, Christina, according to the Army.

Edens entered the service in May 2003 and went to Fort Lewis, Wash., a year later, Army spokesman Joe Hitt said. An armor specialist, Edens was dispatched to Iraq last October with the Stryker Brigade Combat Team, a group that has lost 58 members since it was deployed.

Edens is the second Columbia resident to die in combat in Iraq over the past year. Army Reserve Sgt. Melvin Mora, 27, of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, died June 6 during a mortar attack. He was a student at Missouri.