Guardsmen mourn loss of fellow soldiers
Guardsman at Stewart Air National Guard base are mourning the six victims killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan Monday. Two of the six victims, Staff Sgt. Louis Bonacasa and Technical Sgt. Joseph
News 12 Staff
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Dec 24, 2015, 3:18 AM
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Updated 3,045 days ago
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Guardsman at Stewart Air National Guard base are mourning the six victims killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan Monday.
Two of the six victims, Staff Sgt. Louis Bonacasa and Technical Sgt. Joseph Lemm, were stationed out of Stewart's 105th Air National Guard Wing in Newburgh.
Both men had served multiple tours of duty. News 12 was at the base two years ago, for what no one realized would be Lemm's final return home.
The 45-year-old NYPD veteran, from West Harrison, leaves behind his wife and two children. Flowers and purple bunting fill his former precinct in the Bronx.
Sgt. Michael Bates, who was a friend to both men, says 31-year-old Bonacasa was "a defender. One to be in the mix. Never one to sit back."
Bonacasa, who is from Long Island, leaves behind his wife and a girl, who just turned 5.
