Army Sgt. 1st Class Mickey E. Zaun

Died January 28, 2005 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

27, of Brooklyn Park, Minn.; assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Jan. 28 of injuries sustained in a collision between two armored vehicles in Mosul, Iraq.

Minnesota soldier dies in Iraq vehicle accident

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — A 27-year-old soldier from Brooklyn Park is the latest Minnesotan to die in Iraq, the Department of Defense announced Monday.

The soldier died in a vehicle crash, the Department of Defense said.

Sgt. 1st Class Mickey E. Zaun, 27, of Brooklyn Park, died Friday in Mosul, Iraq, from injuries sustained in a collision between two armored vehicles. Zaun was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, N.C.

Zaun’s former mother-in-law said he loved serving in the military.

“We’re going to love and miss that kid forever,” Julie Eberhardt, of Jamestown, N.D., told the Star Tribune. Zaun was formerly married to Eberhardt’s daughter, Melissa Benoit, an Army paratrooper stationed in Germany. “We have great respect for him.”

The accident remains under investigation.