Soldier Dies in Afghanistan and Marine Is Killed in Iraq

As a soldier trained to obey orders, Dale E. Fracker Jr. did something unusually daring.

When he learned that a technicality would prevent him from going with his Army unit to Afghanistan, he threatened to go over his commanding officer’s head if the rules weren’t bent so he could go too. He won. But that devotion to duty ended up costing him his life.

“I’m very proud of my son’s service,” said his father, Dale E. Fracker Sr., 50, of Apple Valley. “If a brother-in-arms was under fire, Dale was the type to go right in there and not think about himself.”

The 23-year-old corporal was killed Nov. 24 near the town of Deh Rawod, about 250 miles southwest of Kabul, when a homemade bomb exploded near his passing military vehicle. A 25-year-old soldier from St. Louis also was killed in the blast.

It was the second overseas tour for Fracker, who signed up for a three-year enlistment in April 2001. He served a six-month assignment in Iraq before reenlisting this year, when he was sent to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, as part of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (Light).

Shortly after his arrival there, his fellow soldiers prepared to leave for Afghanistan. But Fracker’s commanding officer told him that he would have to stay behind. “He hadn’t been home from Iraq long enough to have the standard rest period,” his father said. “When they told my son he couldn’t go, he said, ‘No way.’ ”

He told his commanding officer that he wanted a waiver, “and if they didn’t give it to him, he would go over his head,” his father said. “After a great deal of pressure from Dale, his commander gave it to him. That was how Dale was -- dedicated and proud.”

Fracker planned to make a career of the military like his father, a 20-year Navy veteran who retired in 1994.

Born in Bremerton, Wash., Fracker spent his early years there and on the island of Guam. The family settled in Apple Valley in 1998. Fracker graduated from Apple Valley High School in 1999.

From their earliest years, he and his brother, Herman, talked about joining the military. Herman, 22, is a Marine who has served two tours in Iraq.

Dale Fracker Sr. said his Marine son decided to exercise an option, as a sole surviving child, not to return to a combat zone. “He has done his two tours,” he said. “And our other son has paid the price in full.”

In addition to his father and brother, Fracker is survived by his mother, Ligaya; and his fiance, Tracy Mitchell of Apple Valley. He was buried at Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Apple Valley.