Fallen soldier gets posthumous promotion

DIXON -- The Illinois Army National Guard says a soldier killed in Afghanistan has been posthumously promoted.

The guard says 35-year-old Spc. Chester Hosford of Ottawa died Monday when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Konduz. He has since been promoted to the rank of sergeant.

A fellow guard soldier, 41-year-old First Lt. Derwin Williams of Glenwood, was killed in the same incident.

Both deployed with Troop B, 2nd Battalion, 106th Cavalry based in Dixon.

On Tuesday, 24-year-old Spec. Christopher Talbert of Galesburg died in an attack near Shinbad.

The guard says Hosford was due home around August. He was a former Marine on his first National Guard deployment. He graduated from Sage Creek High School, in Peyton, Colo., in 1993. He was single.