An attack in Iraq hits hard in N.E.

An insurgent attack on an Iraqi police station in Ramadi on Wednesday killed one soldier from Vermont and wounded two from New Hampshire, one of the bloodiest days of the war for National Guard units from New England.

Specialist Christopher Merchant, 32, a National Guardsman from Hardwick, Vt., died instantly when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the Humvee that the three soldiers were using as an observation post, military officials said yesterday.

National Guard Sergeant Jose Pequeno, 32, of Lisbon, N.H., and Private Richard Ghent, 20, of Rochester, N.H., also were injured during the attack.

Pequeno, the police chief of a two-man department in Sugar Hill, N.H., is being treated for severe head wounds and other wounds in the intensive care unit at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Ghent suffered ''substantial injuries" but is recovering in a hospital in Balad, Iraq, said Major Greg Heilshorn, spokesman for the New Hampshire National Guard.

In an e-mail to WMUR-TV (Channel 9), Ghent wrote: ''Here is the scariest part: I got hit in the face with a grenade and busted my nose and lip up pretty good. I am on my way to Germany to get some treatment for my back, and then I'm going back to the States. . . . I'm OK."

The soldier's mother, Nancy Williams of Rochester, said her son had been wounded in the back and called to give her the news himself.

Said Heilshorn: ''All three soldiers believed they were making a difference over there. They were very proud to be members of the National Guard."

Word of the casualties rippled yesterday through small towns in Vermont and New Hampshire, prompting grief from family and friends, expressions of pride in the soldiers, and renewed calls for an end to hostilities.

Merchant was described by his widow, Monica, as ''the type of father that tucked his children into bed every night, played basketball with his four children for countless hours, reminded them to say grace before dinner, encouraged education, and volunteered to go to Iraq with the hope that he could make a difference so his son would not one day have to go to war."

She said he looked forward to distributing balls to Iraqi children that had been donated by Peoples Academy in Morrisville, Vt., where Merchant graduated in 1991 and where he worked as a custodian.

''He especially enjoyed assisting the children of Iraq," Monica Merchant said. ''He said dealing with the war zone was easier than witnessing the suffering children. He is our hero."

Merchant is the sixth member to be killed from Task Force Saber, an 800-member unit stationed in the heart of the so-called Sunni Triangle, one of the most dangerous places in Iraq for US troops. In September another task force member from Hardwick, Specialist Scott P. McLaughlin, 29, was killed by a sniper while on patrol in Ramadi. The task force, which has a large Vermont contingent, has been in Iraq since July.

The unit is part of a combat brigade that has been used to train Iraqi police; deliver supplies to hospitals, clinics, and schools; and help coordinate reconstruction activities, said Master Sergeant Mike Daigle of the New Hampshire National Guard.

In picturesque Sugar Hill, just outside Franconia Notch, all 580 residents anxiously awaited word on Pequeno's condition.

''He was supposed to be home in 10 weeks, and we've all been hoping he'd make it in one piece," said Richard Bielefield, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. ''We all want him home, but this is a tough way to come home."

Every call to the municipal offices seemed to be about Pequeno's condition, said Town Clerk Lissa Boissonneault, who has helped shuttle monthly care packages to Pequeno. ''We've been leaving a box out . . . for people to leave donations," Boissonneault said.

] ''At Christmas, we sent four boxes of all the kinds of things they said we should be sending," Boissonnealt said. ''We tried to send multiples so Jose could pass them around to the guys he was living with."

Alfonso Camara, 41, said he cried when he heard yesterday his friend had been seriously wounded. They have been close since 1996, when Pequeno rescued Camara's daughter Kayla from Lost River Gorge, where she had been submerged for more than a minute. Pequeno received a governor's citation for the rescue.

''Here's a person who would give his left arm to anyone to help him out," said Camara, who lives in Attleboro, Mass. ''Without him, my daughter wouldn't be around right now. I want to pray for him and hope he has a speedy recovery, but there's a lot of damage done to him right now."

Pequeno's father-in-law, Jerry West of North Woodstock, said Pequeno and his daughter Kelly met while they both worked on Lost River, have been married for nine years and have two children. Pequeno also has a third child, a 10-year-old who lives with her mother.

Pequeno was scheduled to be flown last night from Germany to the United States, Camara said.

The casualties followed the death on Sunday of a soldier from Maine, Specialist Joshua Humble, 21, of Appleton, who died when a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad.

The attack Wednesday was the bloodiest for New England troops since Dec. 21, 2004, when two members of a Maine National Guard battalion were killed and at least were 10 injured in an assault on a mess tent near Mosul.

Merchant's death adds to the sacrifice that Vermont has made since the Iraq war started in March 2003.

Merchant is the 17th Vermont resident to have been killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

''We support the soldiers, but we want them home," said Bonney Simons of the North Country Coalition for Justice and Peace, which holds weekly vigils in St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Opposition to the war also appears to be growing among soldiers in the field.

A Le Moyne College/Zogby International poll, released Tuesday, indicated that 72 percent of American troops serving in Iraq think US forces should leave the country within the next year, and that 29 percent said American forces should leave immediately. Even higher majorities of National Guard members favored withdrawal, the poll said.

Cole reported from Sugar Hill and Lisbon, N.H., MacQuarrie from Boston. Material from the Associated Press was used.