Beach Park man dies in combat in Afghanistan

A short-lived trip seven years ago to Germany transformed Beach Park's Sgt. John Penich.

Penich had just graduated in 2001 from Zion-Benton Township High School with honors.

"He was the kind of guy that really didn't have to do too much studying," said his father, James Penich, the day after he learned of his son's death in Afghanistan.

John M. Penich was to spend about a year overseas living with a German family.

But his world transformed the instant he saw those planes slam into the World Trade Center Towers on Sept. 11. About a month later he returned to Beach Park.

"He felt he needed to be here," said older brother Jeff Penich.

After high school he worked in hotel administration, but it wasn't working out.

Seven years later, John Penich found himself a sergeant in the Army, deployed in Afghanistan.

He wanted to make a career in the military and eventually go back to school in two years. Before breaking his foot, he wanted to be an Army Ranger.

His parents were terrified in 2006 when their son told him he was going to enlist.

"Mom's biggest worry was he was going to do something to protect someone else that would get himself hurt," his brother said.

Those fears became reality when the Army announced the 25-year-old Penich died Thursday while in combat in Karangol Village, Afghanistan, apparently hit by indirect fire. The military told family the incident is under investigation.

"Something could have exploded around him and took him out," his father said through tears from his home in Arkansas.

It was Penich's first tour overseas, having reached Afghanistan in July.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

His brother said the war had taken his best friend.

The pair would hunt together and ride Harley Davidson bikes, making a 980-mile trip in 2004 to Sturgis, S.D.

His mother and stepfather, Kathy and Mike Garross, would send him care packages filled with beef jerky, soup and baby wipes. But they weren't what Penich wanted for himself, they were what his fellow soldiers wanted.

"He was always unselfish," Jeff Penich said. "He lived all 25 years, he never took anything for granted while protecting us."

As of Friday, 542 American military members fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan have died since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Friends have started the "We Remember John Penich" online page at Facebook.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Sgt. Penich was born in Waukegan, and is also survived by brother Jim and sister Crystal Barrett. He's also the nephew of Gurnee-based Warren District 121 board member Michael Penich.