Hayfield soldier dies in Iraq

By Courtney Blanchard, Star Tribune

Last update: November 30, 2007 - 10:15 AM

A Minnesota soldier who had planned to come home in January died Wednesday as the result of wounds suffered in Iraq.

Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class John Tobiason, 42, of Hayfield, in southeastern Minnesota, was wounded in an incident that is under investigation, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

He was on his second tour overseas, this time with the 847th Adjutant General Battalion of the 89th Regional Readiness Command based in Wichita, Kan. Previously he had served in Kuwait.

Tobiason, in his 14th year with the Army, had volunteered to stay longer when his tour ended in October, his elder sister, Nancy Mitchell, said late Thursday by phone from her home in Mantorville, Minn.

He would have returned home in January, she said.

Tobiason's death is still under investigation. Mitchell said all the family knows is that he had stepped outside a tent in Baghdad and that shots were fired. She said she expects to see the final report in a day or two.

Mitchell said her brother, who did administrative work, loved the military and had planned to serve 20 years, then retire to a cabin in Minnesota where he could spend his days fishing by a quiet lake.

Tobiason loved to cook, and served for years as an Army cook. When he came home, he would often fry fish for the entire family, his sister said.

He grew up in Bloomington and graduated from Kennedy High School, she said.

"He was a wild and crazy drummer who loved life," Mitchell said.

When he came home once from an overseas tour, he surprised his sister by jumping onstage before the Byron, Minn., community production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." It was the first time Mitchell, who was one of the dancing and singing extras, had seen her brother after he returned, and they hugged in front of everyone onstage.

In Hayfield, a veterans memorial was just unveiled this Veteran's Day. It has Tobiason's name on a plaque. On Thursday, Mitchell said the family set flowers beside the monument in his memory.

Services are planned next week at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Bloomington. Besides his sister, Tobiason is survived by his mother, Virginia Tobiason, his brother, Jim Tobiason, five nieces and two nephews. He was divorced and had no children.

Tobiason was the 64th Minnesota service member to die in connection with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Courtney Blanchard • 612-673-4921

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