Las Vegas Sun

June 15, 2024

Guardsman killed in tank rollover buried in Boulder City

Nevada Soldier Buried

John Locher / AP

Joshua Bothe, left, comforts Shaylea Gallagher during a funeral for their father, Nevada Army National Guard Staff Sgt. David W. Gallagher, Tuesday, July 2, 2019, in Boulder City. Gallagher, who joined the military in 1988 and enlisted in the Nevada Army Guard in 2009, was killed during a training accident at Fort Irwin, Calif.

The Nevada National Guard is honoring a soldier killed during a training accident tank crash in California last month.

Guard Staff Sgt. David W. Gallagher was buried Tuesday at Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

Nevada guard officials say the 51-year-old soldier from Las Vegas was awarded the Nevada Medal of Valor for pushing another soldier to safety as the M1A1 Abrams battle tank rolled over during the June 4 accident at Fort Irwin, California.

Three other soldiers from an Idaho-based brigade were injured.

Gallagher was an armor crewman who joined the military in 1988 and enlisted in the Nevada Army Guard in 2009.

Officials awarded him a Meritorious Service Medal for a decade of Nevada guard service and two Army Reserve Component Achievement medals for "exemplary behavior" between 2012 and 2018.