Spc. Dwayne McFarlane Jr.

Cass Lake soldier killed

Bomb claims man, 20, who survived earlier attack on unit

BY BILL GARDNER

Pioneer Press

Spc. Dwayne McFarlane Jr. of Cass Lake, Minn., was behind enemy lines in Iraq even before the U.S. bombing began nearly two years ago. Twice he had come home to Minnesota, and twice he had gone back to Iraq.

McFarlane, 20, had seen fellow soldiers die around him, but he told his family not to worry about him the last time he was home in September.

"He said he'd be OK," said Don Bellanger, an uncle who raised McFarlane as a son in Cass Lake, near Bemidji in northern Minnesota. "We said, 'Be careful.' "

On Sunday, a military representative arrived at Bellanger's home to report that McFarlane had been killed that day by a bomb while on foot patrol near Baghdad. He is the 11th Minnesotan to die during military operations in Iraq.

McFarlane was a 2002 graduate of Cass Lake-Bena High School, where he was on the basketball and track teams. The 2000-01 basketball team went to the state tournament.

Word of his death spread quickly through the small town of about 900 people and the high school of 230 students.

"We had a moment of silence during our announcements this morning," said Patti Haasch, principal of the high school. The school flag will be at half-staff until McFarlane's burial.

The summer McFarlane graduated from high school, he decided to enlist in the Army, Bellanger said.

"One day he said, 'Take me to Bemidji,' " Bellanger recalled. The two drove the 12 miles to the Army recruiting station in Bemidji, and McFarlane signed up that day.

"He didn't want to stick around here and work for minimum wage," Bellanger said.

Luann Frazer, director of Indian education programs for the Cass Lake-Bena schools, said McFarlane loved to go inline skating.

"He liked to hang out and skate," Frazer said. "He used to do aggressive blading, where they go and do grinds and go down rails and jump off garages."

"He was just a happy-go-lucky young man," Bellanger said. "He was always on the go."

McFarlane was a forward observer behind enemy lines when the U.S. bombing of Iraq began in March 2003, his family said.

Last summer, his unit was attacked, and several of McFarlane's fellow soldiers were killed.

"A guy got shot right in the neck right next to him," Bellanger said. "They told him to come home for a couple of weeks."

McFarlane then returned to Cass Lake for two weeks in September, the last time his family saw him.

McFarlane hoped to go to college after he left the Army.

"He wanted to design cars," said Bellanger's wife, Alvera. "He had a future. He had goals."

She said she knew the news was bad when she saw the military representative at their home.

"I wish it wasn't him, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone else, either," she said.

Bellanger said McFarlane moved to Cass Lake from the Twin Cities when he was 6 years old. He has three brothers and two sisters living in the Twin Cities, Bellanger said.

McFarlane's uncle said the funeral will be in Cass Lake, but arrangements were still pending Monday. The soldier's body was expected to arrive at a military facility in Maryland today.

McFarlane was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), in Fort Drum, N.Y.