Two from Vermont killed in Iraq attack

COLCHESTER, Vt. -- Two members of the Vermont Army National Guard were killed yesterday in Iraq.

Sergeant Kevin Sheehan, 36, of Milton, and Specialist Alan Bean Jr., 22, of Bridport, were killed while working at the coalition base Kolsu about 25 miles south of Baghdad, said Vermont National Guard spokeswoman Veronica Saffo.

Six other Vermont soldiers were injured in the mortar attack that killed Sheehan and Bean. Saffo said she didn't yet know the extent of their injuries.

"The information is incomplete at this time, so we're not able to release anything yet," she said last night.

Reached at his home in Bridport, Bean's father, Alan Bean, declined to comment.

Sheehan and Bean were members of the Williston-based 1st Battalion of the 86th Field Artillery Regiment, a unit stationed with the Sixteenth Military Police Brigade. They had been mobilized in January and arrived in Iraq in March after a month of training at Fort Dix, N.J.

The 86th draws soldiers from armories in Berlin, Burlington, Vergennes, and Waterbury.

The death of Sheehan and Bean brings to nine the number of soldiers with Vermont roots who have been killed in combat since the war began over a year ago.