NEW SALEM, ND, USA U.S. Army SPC, HHC, 1ST BATTALION, 15TH INFANTRY (TF LIBERTY), FORT BENNING, GA AD DULUIYAH, IRAQ 11/02/2005
Dennis James Ferderer Jr., of New Salem, North Dakota, was always helpful—sometimes too helpful. During the course of a remodeling project that included floor refinishing, his parents woke up at 5 a.m. one morning to noises. Upon investigation, they found their 2-year-old son in the kitchen. He had found a nail and hammer, and had brought it upstairs and was hammering a nail into the kitchen floor. He thought he was helping Dad, putting the floor in, said his mother, Claudina Ferderer.
He smiled all the time, said Robin Doll, Ferderer’s history teacher. He liked the lighthearted side of a lot of things. Whatever we were talking about, he’d find something funny to say about it. He grew up on a dairy farm and loved farm work and hunting pheasants. Childhood friend Madalyn Klingenstein remembers his tremendous compassion for people, his constant smile, but also him hiding her shoes from her during class in third grade.
Dennis served as an altar boy at Saint Pius V Catholic Church. He graduated New Salem High School in 2003 and began his Army career at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Specialist Dennis J. Jerderer, Jr., 20, was killed on November 2, 2005, in Duluiyah, Iraq while serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom, when a grenade hit his vehicle. He was serving with the Army Active duty 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division