Apex, N.C. — A North Carolina Army National Guard soldier from Apex has died in Iraq, officials said Monday.
Spc. Lance Oliver Eakes, 25, a member of the 1132nd Military Police Company was killed Friday while on a combat patrol near Baghdad, officials said. Two other members of the 1132nd were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off as the soldiers returned from a meeting with Iraqi police, officials said.
Eakes, who graduated from Apex High School in 2001, joined the 1132nd in January 2003 before transferring to the 105th Military Police Battalion, which deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005. He returned to the 1132nd last May and mobilized for a second tour in Iraq a month later.
He was promoted posthumously to the rank of sergeant.
The 1132nd, headquartered in Rocky Mount, has about 120 soldiers stationed in Baghdad. They are scheduled to return to North Carolina this fall.
Eakes is the ninth N.C. National Guard soldier killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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