PHOENIX (AP) – He was a former Phoenix high school star distance runner who was the grandson of an Arizona financier involved in the 1980s savings and loan scandal.
Charlie Keating IV went on to run track at Indiana University, attend the Naval Academy and become a Navy SEAL based out of San Diego, California.
Keating, 31, died Tuesday in Iraq in an Islamic State group attack near the city of Irbil.
He’s the third American serviceman to die in combat in Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition launched its campaign against the Islamic State in the summer of 2014, according to military officials.
“Like so many brave Americans who came before him, Charlie sacrificed his life in honorable service to our nation for a cause greater than self-interest, which we can never truly repay,” U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in a statement.