Antioch GI dies in Afghanistan

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Spc. Andrew Wade, 22, of Antioch, died Wednesday in Bagram, Afghanistan, while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Updated: May 10, 2011 4:47AM

Army Spc. Andrew Wade died half way around the world while serving in the Army before he could take his own trip around the world with his friends.

The Department of Defense on Thursday announced the death of the 22-year-old Antioch resident while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

The weapons specialist died Wednesday in Bagram, Afghanistan, as a result of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, the Defense Department said. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.

The Department of Defense public affairs office did not return calls to explain the incident that took Wade’s life.

“My brother loved soccer, it was his life. His goal was to be a professional soccer player,” said his sister, Alicia Wade-Litchfield.

Wade graduated from Antioch High School in 2007. He played soccer and in 2005 his Sequoit team wrapped up their first North Suburban Conference Prairie Division crown with Wade assisting on one of two goals that sealed the victory. In 2006, he was named for All-Sectional Honors by the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association.

“For me he was great,” said Becky Dziekan, who coached Wade at Antioch his sophomore year. She is now the assistant athletic director at Zion-Benton Township High School.

“He was an outstanding player and a great kid,” she said, “We had a special relationship and I cared a lot about him.”

Wade-Litchfield said her brother was planning a trip around the world with some friends when they were all finished in the Army.

“After that trip, he talked about possibly going back to school. His family and friends were everything to him,” she said. Besides his sister, Wade is survived by his parents, two brothers, two nieces and two nephews.

The family was in Delaware on Thursday to meet the plane that carried his body. Funeral arrangements will not be finalized until Saturday morning.

“He had three best friends, Eric Knauff, Brandon Rojas and Tony Smerk. He also loved his niece, Veronica Mauritz, to death and he was her world,” said Wade-Litchfield, who lives in Arizona.

Wade joined the Army in September 2008, completing basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. The infantryman arrived at Fort Drum, headquarters of the 10th Mountain Division, in April 2009, then deployed with his unit in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the spring of 2010.

He is the third Antioch serviceman and the 22nd serviceman to die from Lake County in the war zones.

Michael Nekritz, one of the superintendents at Antioch High School, remembered Wade as a jock who had a great smile.

“It’s tragic,” he said Thursday. “He had a lot of friends and he had a charismatic personality,” he said. “I remember him as a kid who always liked to smile. I’m proud of him serving his country.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed that flags on state government buildings be flown at half-staff on Monday in honor of Wade, according to New York news reports.

“On behalf of all New Yorkers I extend our condolences to the family, friends and fellow soldiers of Specialist Wade,” Cuomo said. “While this young soldier was not a native of New York, we consider all those stationed at Fort Drum as our own. We will grieve for his loss, and honor his memory.”