Madison Military Man Killed In 2013 To Be Honored

By Jack Kramer, Correspondent

MADISON, CT — A military man who lived in Madison and was mortally wounded in Afghanistan in 2013 will have a memorial street sign in town unveiled and dedicated to him on Saturday.

Andrew Pedersen-Keel will have the “Captain Andrew Pedersen-Keel Memorial Highway” unveiled and dedicated in his memory by State Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. Noreen Kokoruda.

Kennedy and Kokoruda introduced legislation that allowed for the road renaming. The sign will be unveiled at the APK Charities 5K race, an annual event that raises money in memory of Captain Petersen-Keel.

Also in attendance Saturday will be Captain Petersen-Keel’s parents along with a group of veterans who served alongside him.

“PK” to those who loved him – was born on June 8, 1984 in South Miami, FL but he grew up in Connecticut, living in Wallingford, Canton and Madison. He attended Avon Old Farms High School in Avon, graduating in 2002.

After earning a Bachelor of Science in American Legal Studies from the United States Military Academy and being commissioned as an Infantry Officer, Andrew entered the United States Army in May of 2006. He deployed with A Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment in support of OEF IIX and IX as an executive officer in June of 2008. He was selected for a second platoon leadership position in September 2008 with 3rd Platoon, B Company.

He remained with 3rd Platoon, B Company for the duration of that deployment. As a Platoon Leader in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Andrew led his platoon in over 150 combat foot patrols and three air assault operations in an area of operations that included five different villages.

In November 2009, Andrew attended Special Forces Assessment and Selection. By September of 2010, he had graduated from the Maneuver Captains Career Course at Fort Knox, KY and he began the Special Forces Qualification Course in November 2010.

During this time, Andrew studied Pashto, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan. Andrew graduated from his Special Forces Qualification Course in 2011 and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group where he served as an ODA Commander until his deployment to Afghanistan in August 2012 as an ODA Commander. In March of 2013, he was team leader of ODA 3126.

On the morning of March 11, 2013, Captain Andrew Michael Pedersen-Keel was concluding a patrol briefing when a 20 year-old Afghan jumped into the back of an Afghan police pickup truck, grabbed the machine gun mounted on the truck bed, and shot and killed the Special Forces team. Andrew was mortally wounded.