From the Des Moines Register-
Pocahontas soldier dies in Iraq
National Guardsman Gregory Tull was scheduled to come home within a month.
By ABBY SIMONS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
November 28, 2005
A 20-year-old Pocahontas National Guardsman who was scheduled to come home within the next month was killed in Iraq on Friday.
Spc. Gregory L. Tull became the 31st Iowan to die in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003, including two civilian contractors. Two Iowans also have died in Afghanistan.
Tull was killed in Al Anbar province during combat operations when insurgent forces detonated an improvised explosive device next to the armored Humvee in which he was the gunner, Iowa National Guard spokesman Lt. Col Gregory Hapgood said at a news conference Sunday.
The attack occurred near the city of Hit, Iraq, about 85 miles west of Baghdad. The area has been a hotbed of violence and has been the location for many of Iowa's casualties, Hapgood said.
The driver and commander in the Humvee were injured in the attack. Their names and conditions were not available.
Tull was assigned to the Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery, based in Storm Lake.
Roger Francis, principal of Pocahontas Area High School , said that he remembered Tull being a hard worker.
"When I think of Greg, I continue to think of him on the basketball court. He played in the post position and was usually outsized by his opponents, but he didn't care. He had a great work ethic. Once he set his mind to something, he achieved his goals."
Roger Sommerlot was the football coach when Tull played starting tight end for Pocahontas in high school.
"He enjoyed doing the best he could to serve his country," Sommerlot said.
"It was kind of like how he did when he played sports. He did the best he could for his school and his team. It was very similar. That was a good characteristic of Greg that we should remember. "
Tull's parents, Eileen and Gary, both Iowa natives, returned to Iowa from California in 1992. The family owns More Than Floors, a furniture store in Humboldt.
He also is survived by a brother, Bryan, and by his grandparents, Bill and Janet Velau of Garner, and Erland and Phyllis Nelson of Humboldt.
Hapgood said Tull was a gifted soldier with a bright future.
Already a specialist at age 20, he was chosen to serve as the commander's gunner, a position with much responsibility.
"He was a guy that didn't shirk responsibility," Hapgood said.
"He was a guy who would volunteer. In the Army one of the things they say is: 'Don't do it, never volunteer.' But he did. He wanted in on the action."
Cody Bunda, 21, played basketball, football and baseball with Tull and remembered him as a "happy person and a great teammate."
"He was always willing to share the spotlight, and he usually did it with a smile on his face," Bunda said.
Tull was born in Phoenix in December 1984.
He graduated from Pocahontas Area High School in 2003.
He attended South Dakota State University before volunteering for the war in Iraq in November 2004.
