Slain Soldier Apparently Enlisted While Drifting Through Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A US Army Sergeant killed in Iraq last week and whose home town was listed as Ponca City apparently joined the Army while drifting through Oklahoma.<br/><br/>The Army says Sergeant

Tuesday, September 12th 2006, 6:11 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A US Army Sergeant killed in Iraq last week and whose home town was listed as Ponca City apparently joined the Army while drifting through Oklahoma.

The Army says Sergeant John Carroll died September 6th when he was hit by small-arms fire while on patrol.

Carroll's mother -- Dawn Petrakovitz -- says he's from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and left the East Coast after high school in the late 1990s to look for work.

Petrakovitz lives in Pittsburgh and says Carroll called her as soon as he signed enlistment papers in Ponca City.

Carroll was assigned to the Army First Battalion, Sixth Infantry Regiment, First Armored Division based in Baumholder, Germany.

He's survived by his wife, Jessica, who lives in Germany.

Funeral services are planned in McMinnville, Tennessee, where Carroll and his wife planned to live.