Daniel R. Sexton

Friday, September 19 2008 @ 02:37 AM MDT

St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- A military police officer who grew up in Wentzville and joined the Army when he was 33 has died in a noncombat shooting in Iraq, his wife said Monday.

Sgt. 1st Class Daniel R. Sexton, 53, died Wednesday at Joint Base Balad, the Army said. He had been assigned since June 2004 to the 164th Military Police Company at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

A Fort Richardson spokesman did not provide details of the fatality but Sexton's wife, Tori, said her husband was the victim of an accidental shooting. She added that the Army had yet to provide her with much information about his death, which remains under investigation.

Before his assignment to Fort Richardson, Sexton had been attached to several Army posts, including Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. He was a veteran of the Persian Gulf War.

After graduating from Wentzville High School, Sexton attended several colleges in Missouri while working in his family's restaurant business, his wife said.

Sexton, born Feb. 16, 1955, in St. Louis, joined the Army in 1988, when he was 33. His wife said he had regretted not going into the military during the Vietnam War.

"He told me he felt guilty about missing Vietnam," Tori Sexton said.

A military memorial was held Friday in Iraq. A similar memorial is scheduled for today at Fort Richardson. Burial will be at Arlington National Cemetery.

After completing basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, Sexton served at Army facilities in Korea and Germany as well as several in the U.S.

Tori Sexton said she met her future husband in 1991 while he was on leave in New Hampshire. They married four months later.

In addition to his wife, among the survivors are two teenage sons, Shane and Corey.

Father and sons enjoyed skiing and snowboarding together, the family said. The three also enjoyed playing video games and watching cartoons.

And while Sexton might have been the oldest soldier in his company, he rode his bicycle most places and was in excellent physical condition, his family said.

Many of the younger soldiers in the company considered Sexton a father figure and frequently confided in him, the family added.

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