Two soldiers dead, one in Iraq, one home on leave

A New York Army National Guardsman was among the seven U.S. soldiers killed Jan. 6, when a roadside bomb exploded in northwest Baghdad, his family said. Pfc. Kenneth VonRonn, 20, of Pine Bush, was assigned to the 69th Infantry Regiment based in Manhattan. The soldiers with Task Force Baghdad were on an evening patrol when their Bradley fighting vehicle hit the explosive, killing everyone inside, the military said in a statement. Meanwhile, a Marine home on holiday leave in Orange County also died Jan. 6 in a crash caused by a winter storm. Cpl. Suresh Sinanan was driving his mother's Ford Explorer in the town of Crawford when he skidded into the oncoming lane, struck a guardrail and collided with a tractor-trailer, state police said. The accident happened less than two miles from his home. Sinanan made the local news in October when he fought to leave Iraq because his stepfather was dying from a brain tumor. He finally got permission from the military and arrived six hours after Jeffrey Lee passed away at Orange Regional Medical Center.