Florida National Guard soldier fatally shot in Iraq

Jeffrey Wershow

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- A student of politics and history has become the second Florida National Guard soldier killed in Iraq, family friends confirmed Monday. A U.S. senator called the slaying "an assassination."

Spc. Jeffrey Wershow, 22, of Gainesville, assigned to the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, was shot Sunday by an unidentified gunman on the campus of Baghdad University. In April, Florida National Guardsman Travis Rivero, who also grew up in Gainesville, was killed in a Humvee wreck while on a combat mission in Iraq.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, speaking in a news conference call Monday from Kuwait City after meeting with Wershow's comrades in Baghdad, said the slaying was "an assassination" planned and carried out by Saddam Hussein's supporters.

Nelson said Wershow was on a security detail for high ranking officials when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

When he turned around, he was shot.

"This has been the pattern of assassinations that have occurred on a half a dozen of our soldiers," he said. "That is something the commanding general is trying to stop."

Gainesville residents who knew the young soldier were shocked and saddened by his death.

"I've known (Wershow) since he was a baby and he's always wanted to be a soldier," said Alachua County Commissioner Cynthia Chesnut, a friend of Wershow's family.

"He was proud to serve. He was very idealistic," said Richard Gehman, headmaster at Oak Hill School, where Wershow graduated in 1999. He also taught Wershow in a Middle Eastern history class.

"He was very interested in history. It was a real strength of his," Gehman said.

Gehman said he last heard from Wershow just before the war started in a telephone call from Jordan.

"I told him to check in because we wanted to keep tabs on him," Gehman said.

While at Oak Hill, Wershow played basketball, was on the yearbook staff, and was named an outstanding delegate to a mock legislature in Tallahassee, Gehman said.

Since Oak Hill does not have a junior ROTC program, Wershow worked out an arrangement to participate in ROTC in a public school, the headmaster said.

Wershow served three years as an active duty soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division, stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. After completing his enlistment, he returned to Gainesville to take classes at Santa Fe Community College, while doing weekend drills as a member of the Florida National Guard.

Wershow served as co-campaign manager for Chestnut's successful 2002 campaign for the County Commission, and may have been considering a career in politics.

"We were all looking for him to be in the state Legislature one day," Chestnut said.

Wershow was the 26th American soldier killed in Iraq since May 1, when the President declared the end of major combat operations. His family did not return calls Monday seeking comment.

"He was a wonderful kid and a fine young man," said Gehman, who said the school was planning a tribute.