2014 Dan Sesker Memorial Poker Run is May 25

Photos: Dan Sesker Memorial Poker Run

Organizers of the 2014 Dan Sesker Memorial Poker Run have launched a website and social media pages for the Sun., May 25 event, which takes place during Memorial Day weekend.

This will be the ninth year for the event, which commemorates Iowa Army National Guard Sgt. Dan Sesker, killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (I.E.D.) on April 6, 2006 in the vicinity of Tikrit, Iraq. He was nine days short of his twenty-third birthday.

The event will start and finish in Ogden, Iowa. Sign-in will be 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the Ogden city park. Other details are pending.

In a poker run, registered participants are dealt random cards and each stop along a designated route. At the final stop of the day, the participant with the highest poker hand wins a pot of cash. Raffles, T-shirt sales, and other fund-raising efforts may also take place during the event.

James "Juice" Justice and Dan Sesker

Sesker was a member of Troop C, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment (1-113th Cav.), both then and now part of the Iowa's 2nd Brigade, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division. In his role as a citizen, he was a youth counselor and part-time police officer. He learned his fianceé was pregnant with their first child while he was deployed, and looked forward to his future role as a father.

Sesker was friends with many citizen-soldiers, including Staff Sgt. James "Juice" Justice, who was himself killed in action during a later brigade deployment to Afghanistan.

Proceeds for 2014 poker run event will go to:

• Gage Sesker Trust Fund

• Wreaths Across America

• Purple Hearts Reunited

• Ogden School District