SPC Benjamin J. Slaven
22 – Plymouth, NE
KIA – June 9, 2006
“He just had a great heart and was really mature for a kid that young,” said Nick Huenink of Plymouth, Neb. “You can’t say enough good things about him.” Slaven, 22, was killed when a roadside bomb hit his Humvee in Diwaniyah, Iraq. The private first class had been in Iraq serving with the Army Reserve’s 308th Transportation Company, based in Lincoln. He joined the Army Reserve in part because both his parents — Bruce Slaven of Beatrice, Neb., and Judy Huenink of Plymouth — served in the Air Force, said his grandmother, Beverly Malchow of Beatrice. His sister, Misti Slaven, is also in the Army Reserves. “He was proud, and he wanted to serve,” Malchow said.
