Kewanee Mourns

WMBD/WYZZ-TV—KEWANEE--A tragic loss for the community of Kewanee of after one of their own is killed in action.

  Twenty-five-year-old Schuyler Patch say their friend was killed Tuesday when a roadside bomb struck the Humvee he, and 3 other soldiers, were riding in.

   Patch was serving as a gunner with the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan. Patch’s death is the team's the seventh soldier killed since the beginning of its mission late last year.

  Patch attended Wethersfield High School....where he played golf and played in the band.

  Friends tell us Patch was known for his great sense of humor, and ability to make anyone smile.

  Amanda Laub told WMBD 31 she knew Patch for four years and said, “When I think about Schuyler I just kind of laugh because that's what he made you do whenever your with him.”

  Ben Brodbeck, said, “You’d go out for a night with your friends you were probably going to run into Schuyler.”

  Sarah Oldeen called Patch one of her best friends, and said, “I thought of him as a brother, he was always there if I needed him, he was there to cheer you up, give you a hug.”

  Oldeen tells us Patch was suppose to be back in Kewanee in six weeks.

  Again, Patch is the first soldier Kewanee has lost in combat since the Vietnam war, and our condolences go out to him and his family.