Jacob Fritz reported killed in Iraq

FALLS CITY, Neb. -- On Monday, Main St. in Falls City, Neb. was lined with 60 American flags in honor of First Lieutenant Jacob Fritz of Verdon.

The 25-year-old died during an ambush in Iraq. He was among five soldiers killed when militia fighters attacked a provincial government building in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

A close family friend remembered the soldier's dedication as she paged through photo albums, and paused on a picture of Jacob in his full combat uniform.

"There he is, all in his dress. I understand that's how he was dressed when he was killed," said Karen Mezger.

Karen called Jacob, "her fifth child."

"He believed in what he did and he believed in what he was doing up until the moment he died," she said. Karen attended the young man's graduation from the U-S Military Academy in West Point, New York in 2005.

"The connection of family is so tight whenever he was home I never hesitated to give him a hug and tell him I loved him," Metger said.

Fritz was a 2000 graduate of Dawson-Verdon High School, where Metger worked as a counselor.

He was expected to return home to Nebraska in 2008, the same year his younger brother will graduate from West Point.

From KETV 7