Sgt. Dennis Weichel's body being flown home after saving child

Army sergeant who gave life to save Afghan child being flown home for burial
Published March 29, 2012
FoxNews.com

An Army sergeant and father of three from Rhode Island who gave his life to save an Afghan child from being run over by a 16-ton armored fighting vehicle is being flown back to the U.S. and will be buried Monday.

Sgt. Dennis Weichel, 29, died in Afghanistan last week after he dashed into the path of an armored fighting vehicle to scoop up the little girl, who had darted back into the roadway to pick up shell casings, according to the Army. Weichel, a Rhode Island National Guardsman, was riding in the convoy in Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan when he jumped out to save the girl, who was unhurt.

“He would have done it for anybody,” Staff Sgt. Ronald Corbett, who deployed with Weichel to Iraq in 2005, said in a quote posted on the U.S. Army website. “That was the way he was. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was that type of guy.”
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‘Hero’ Rhode Island National Guardsman Gives Life to Save Afghan Girl

Wake for RI soldier killed in Afghanistan

‘Hero’ Rhode Island National Guardsman Gives Life to Save Afghan Girl

‘Hero’ U.S. Soldier Gives Life to Save Afghan Girl

By Luis Martinez
Mar 29, 2012

It is a compelling war-zone story of heroism of a U.S. soldier who gave his own life to save an Afghan girl from certain injury.

Sgt. Dennis Weichel, 29, died in Afghanistan last week as he lifted an Afghan girl who was in the path of a large military vehicle barreling down a road.

Weichel, a Rhode Island National Guardsman, was riding along in a convoy in Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan when some children were spotted on the road ahead.
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Dealing with vets’ invisible wounds

Dealing with vets’ invisible wounds
01:00 AM EDT on Monday, October 11, 2010
By Katie mulvanEY

Journal Staff writer
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island Representatives Patrick J. Kennedy and James R. Langevin will bring together law-enforcement officials, veterans, judges, military advocates and health-care experts this month for a roundtable discussion of the state’s efforts to help veterans recover from what they describe as the “invisible” wounds of war.

The group will explore avenues in which qualified veterans may receive treatment for substance-abuse issues and neurological disorders through Veterans Administration health care, as an alternative to the criminal justice system, according to Kennedy’s office.

Set for 4 p.m., Oct. 25, at the Rhode Island National Guard facility in Cranston, its participants will include Craig Stenning, director of the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals; Ashbel T. Wall II, director of the Department of Corrections; Deputy Attorney General Gerald J. Coyne; District Court Chief Judge Jeanne E. LaFazia; and Daniel Evangelista, the state’s commandant for veterans affairs, Kennedy’s office said.

The effort is in cooperation with the Rhode Island National Guard and the Municipal Police Academy.
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Dealing with vets invisible wounds

Rhode Island National Guardsmen save woman in burning car