JEFFERSON CITY, MO. (AP)- A Missouri National Guard soldier who died in a training exercise in Guatemala will be buried Thursday in Union.

Thirty-four-year-old Staff Sgt. Robert J. Traxel of Union died July 2 after he was hit in the head by a tree limb knocked down by wind generated by helicopter rotor blades.

The Missouri National Guard says Traxel’s body was scheduled to arrive Tuesday at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. A visitation is scheduled Wednesday in Mehlville. Services will be Thursday at the Kutis Funeral Home in Mehlville, followed by burial at Midlawn Gardens in Union.

Traxel was a public affairs broadcast specialist with the 70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment out of Jefferson City. He joined the Missouri National Guard in April after more than seven years in the Army and Marines.

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