The Army has named the two Fort Wainwright-based soldiers killed Monday when their truck wrecked in the Yukon Training Area near Salcha, south of Fairbanks.
According to an 11th Airborne Division statement, Spcs. Jeremy Daniel Evans, 23, and Brian Joshua Snowden, 22, died of injuries sustained in the accident near the training area east of Eielson Air Force Base.
The Army said Evans was from Knoxville, Tennessee, joined the Army in July 2020 and arrived in Alaska in January 2021. Snowden was from Lonedell, Missouri, joined the Army in July 2020 and arrived in Alaska in March 2021.
Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, the 11th Airborne’s commander, said in the statement that Evans and Snowden’s deaths were “an incredible loss for all of us across the division.” He emphasized that resources are available for soldiers and families as they mourn the two men.
Evans and Snowden were assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team. They were among 17 Fort Wainwright-based soldiers riding in the tactical transport truck when it wrecked Monday morning near the Johnson Road intersection with Military Pipeline Road.
Twelve other soldiers in the truck also were injured, with eight treated and released from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. The other four were in stable condition Wednesday evening, two of them still at Fairbanks Memorial and the other two taken to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.
The Army’s Combat Readiness Center is investigating the accident.
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
