Christopher E. Loudon killed by roadside bomb

An Army soldier with Oil City ties who was killed Tuesday in Iraq graduated a year ago from Slippery Rock University.

That's also where he met his future wife, Jacey, and they married in December of last year. "I'm going to miss him every day," she said.

Christopher E. Loudon, a second lieutenant who was attached to the 4th Infantry Division, was killed by a roadside bomb that exploded as he was riding in a Humvee on patrol in Baghdad, his mother-in-law, Suzanne Laidacker, said.

"He fell in love with our daughter at college and we fell in love with him," Laidacker said in an interview with the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. "I have two sons and a daughter and he was my third son. If I could trade places I would give up my life."

Loudon was the grandson of Florence Loudon of Oil City. His parents, Randy and Susan Loudon, live at Brockport, near DuBois. Randy is an Oil City native who played football and wrestled at Oil City High School.

The soldier also had an aunt, Karen Taylor, and her husband, Robert, in Oil City, and a great-uncle, Thomas Moore, also in Oil City.

Loudon's widow, Jacey, who lives with her parents in the Williamsport area, described her husband as a soul mate and best friend.

"Chris was the most caring, kind, strong person that I know," she said in an interview with the Sun-Gazette.

Loudon enrolled in the ROTC program while in high school and college. He received his commission as a second lieutenant when he graduated from Slippery Rock.

His brother, 1st Lt. Nicholas Loudon, 25, is also in Iraq, serving with the 82nd Airborne. Florence Loudon said the surviving brother is trying to make connections overseas to accompany Christopher Loudon's body back to the states.

Memorial and funeral arrangements have not been finalized, she added.

From the News Herald