The deaths of two Indiana National Guardsmen in Afghanistan brings to six the number of soldiers from a Valparaiso-based unit to die in the war this year.
Gov. Mitch Daniels and Adjutant General Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger said Tuesday that Spcs. Nick Taylor of Berne and Sergio Eduardo Perez of Crown Point died Monday while clearing bombs when rocket-propelled grenade fire and small arms fire hit their patrol in Kandahar Province.
Taylor and Perez were members of the Valparaiso-based 713th Engineer Company that also lost four other members Jan. 6 in an explosion in Kandahar.
Taylor's brother says he was driving an armored truck when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Perez graduated from Lake Central High School in 2010 and enlisted later that year.
