Post office named for Illinois solider killed in Afghanistan

ALPHA, Ill. (AP) - A western Illinois post office has been named in honor of a 26-year-old soldier who died while serving in Afghanistan.

The Alpha Post Office was formally named the Capt. Joshua E. Steele Post Office during a ceremony last week.

Steele was raised on his family farm in North Henderson. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 2002 and was commissioned that year as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served in Iraq and the Republic of Georgia before he was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2007.

Stephen Steele said during Thursday’s ceremony that he will never forget his brother. He said the post office naming will ensure the community will also remember Joshua Steele’s sacrifice.