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Soldier with local ties dies in Iraq

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Lamar Deuel, commander of the VFW in Janesville, holds a picture of his grandson, Sgt. Cody Leggs, who was killed during combat in Iraq on Wednesday.

JANESVILLE — Sgt. Cody Legg and his platoon were searching for insurgents door-to-door in a northern Iraq city Wednesday when gunfire broke out.

Split into two-man teams, soldiers searched a building room-by-room.

Two of his men got hit.

“Man down!” Legg yelled.

Legg tried to go over a wall to rescue his comrades, but gunfire came at him from three directions. Three shots hit him in the chest.

“His friend said that all the guys that were there consider him a hero,” said Buneva Deuel, Legg's grandmother.

“He had always told his friends that his main mission was to keep his men safe. When he went to try and save them, they were behind a wall. He didn’t realize they were already dead.”

The Deuels, a family with a strong military presence in Janesville, is mourning the loss of Legg, 23, after his death Wednesday in Iraq.

Lamar Deuel Sr., commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Kienow-Hilt Post 1621 in Janesville, and his wife, Buneva, president of the Ladies Auxiliary, are the grandparents of Legg.

“Knowing my grandson, he would have done just a thing like that to try and save his fellow warriors,” Lamar said.

Legg was born and grew up in San Diego, where the Deuels raised their family. The Deuels moved to Janesville in 2005. Legg is the son of David Legg and Buneva Jacquay.

Enlisting in the Army during high school, Legg later was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, N.Y. In four years, he climbed the ranks to sergeant and served for a year in Korea and two tours in Iraq.

During his first tour in Iraq, he was stationed on the same base in Baghdad as his uncle, Lamar Deuel Jr., who also lives in Janesville. While they rarely saw each other, Legg did get to visit his uncle in the hospital after he was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade in September 2005.

Lamar Deuel Jr., 45, now is on disability retirement from the Army and can’t bend his ankle because of shrapnel. He will succeed his father next year as commander of the VFW.

Legg returned to the states for about six months between his two Iraq tours and had just been home last month for a two-week break.

“It’s an ironic twist of fate,” Lamar Sr. said. “My youngest brother was killed in Vietnam in 1968. He was making wedding plans for his fiancé for his return and turns out Cody was doing the same thing.”

At the end of his enlistment in 2010, Legg planned to train to become a paramedic in San Diego.

“He was an insightful young man,” he said. “He cared for his fellow warriors and people in general.”

While in Iraq, Legg's grandparents bought him a lifetime membership to the VFW with membership in the Janesville post.

“When he made one visit on a long weekend back here, he was able to come up and see the post, find out where he belonged and got to meet some people,” Lamar Sr. said.

The local VFW also adopted Legg's platoon to send care packages monthly. Support from area organizations has aided the effort, and anyone wishing to donate items to be sent to the platoon can drop them off at the VFW, 1015 Center Ave., Janesville.

“We will, in spite of this, continue supporting the platoon through their deployment,” Lamar Sr. said.

Funeral services will be held in San Diego with burial at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. Plans also are in the works for a memorial service at the Janesville VFW, where the flags will fly at half-staff for 30 days.