Army Staff Sgt. Eric J. Lindstrom

Died July 12, 2009 serving during Operation Enduring Freedom

27, of Flagstaff, Ariz.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died July 12 near Barge Matal, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his dismounted patrol using small arms and indirect fire.

Soldier from Flagstaff killed in Afghanistan

Wire and staff report

Azcentral.com

A former Flagstaff police officer serving in the Army has been killed in Afghanistan during a military operation.

Staff Sgt. Eric James Lindstrom was a member of the 10th Mountain Division. It was his second tour of duty.

Lindstrom’s father, Ric, told the Arizona Daily Sun that his 27-year-old son was killed by gunfire.

Eric Lindstrom was raised in Flagstaff and graduated high school in 1999. He joined the Army and spent time in Iraq before leaving the service.

Lindstrom then followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Flagstaff Police Department, said Police Chief Brent Cooper. He spent four years as a police officer and re-enlisted in the Army last fall.

“He had a burning desire to return to service,” Cooper said Tuesday.

Ric Lindstrom said his son had been stationed at a remote base near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and had been in several firefights in the last few months.