Episode Details

Chuck Newton has been carrying Nov. 3, 2005, for almost 21 years. On Thursday morning he sat down in the WGIL studio and walked through all of it: the convoy that rolled out at 1 a.m., the two D-cell batteries and a length of wire that blew the Humvee onto its end, the four-foot crater he stepped into when he climbed out, the helicopter, the hospital, and the moment doctors told him there was nothing they could do for the man who had been sitting directly in front of him. Sgt. 1st Class Kyle B. Wehrly of Galesburg died that day. He was 28, a husband and a father. On Friday, Sept. 4, at 2 p.m. on the Galesburg Public Square, the stretch of Route 150 through his hometown will be dedicated in his name. Newton was his platoon sergeant. He joined State Rep. Dan Swanson on Galesburg's Morning News to talk about Kyle, the mission, and the 20 years it took to get here. Dan Swanson and Chuck Newton joined Galesburg's Morning News on Thursday, Sept. 3. Listen to the full interview above. They talked about: What Kyle did to make sure the Army couldn't send him home before his unit deployed What made Wehrly the best navigator in the unit, and why that mattered in the desert at night The unusual mission at Camp Ashraf, and the road north of the base that soldiers called IED Alley Newton's account of Nov. 3, 2005, in his own words The form Newton stumbled onto at work after two decades of searching What the artillery unit in Galesburg named after him, and where it will be Friday What Swanson is asking of anyone who comes out to the square   Related story: Kyle Wehrly's name goes on Route 150 Friday. The soldier beside him that night remembers. 🎧 Subscribe to Galesburg's Morning News: Apple podcasts.apple.com | Spotify open.spotify.com