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Alabama/Missouri loses a hero

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Specialist Fitzmorris’ loved ones:

A sniper’s bullet is behind one of the latest U.S. casualties in Iraq; a soldier with strong Alabama connections.

The Army says 26 year old Specialist Steven Fitzmorris was in a Baghdad neighborhood when a sniper shot him. Spec. Fitzmorris died about 3 hours later.

Fitzmorris grew up in Arab, Alabama, and was a student at Arab High School. He was remembered as a fun-loving, free-spirited person who always told his mother not to worry about him.

Funeral services were held for Spec. Fitzmorris Tuesday in Columbia, Missouri, where he lived with his wife and 2 children.

Aliceville loses a hero

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Specialist Brown’s loved ones:

Pickens County soldier dies in Afghanistan

Michelle Harris said she had been expecting a phone call from her daughter, who was serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

Instead, she received the unwelcome news from an Army official that her daughter, 22-year-old Army Spc. Seteria L. Harris Brown, died while serving in Sharana, Afghanistan.

‘I was shocked and devastated,’ Harris said. ‘I still can’t believe it. I had spoken to her on the phone just a week before.’

Harris said she was told that her daughter died July 25 from a gunshot wound to the chest. An Army news release said Brown died of ‘injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.’

Exactly what happened isn’t clear.

‘All I know is what they told me,’ Harris said.

A spokeswoman at Fort Hood, Texas, the Army base where Brown had been stationed before deployment to Afghanistan, said Thursday afternoon that Brown’s death is still under investigation.

The spokeswoman said she did not know how long the investigation would take.

Brown was a few months into her second overseas deployment, her brother said.

She was an enlisted soldier assigned to Fort Hood’s 36th Engineer Brigade since February. She was sent to Afghanistan in April.

Brown joined the Army shortly after graduation from Aliceville High School in 2004. She enjoyed Army life and re-enlisted after her initial four-year contract expired not long ago, her mother said.

She had a seven-year-old daughter, Harris said.

‘She was such a sweet person,’ Harris said. ‘Everybody liked being around her. She always kept a smile on her face.’

Brown’s younger brother, Keiwan Harris, said he had been unable to talk his sister out of joining the Army.

‘It was something she really wanted to do,’ he said. ‘She was always an independent person.’

Brown’s decorations and awards include the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and Overseas Service Ribbon.

Services will be held 2 p.m. Saturday at New Canaan Baptist Church in Aliceville.

Auburn mourns loss of a hero

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Sergeant France’s loved ones:

Auburn soldier killed in motorcycle accident

Sunday, Raquiviaus “Quake” France told his mother about his dreams of completing aviation school and one day working on airplanes. Tuesday, the Auburn native, who turned 24, on June 4 was killed in a motorcycle accident in Pinellas Park, Fla.

“We were going to see him this weekend,” said his mother, Priscilla Daniel of Auburn. “We talked on Father’s Day and he told me he was in school.”

According to a report released by the Pinellas Park Police, France was traveling northbound on U.S. Highway 19 at 7:19 a.m. when another vehicle made a U-turn directly in front of him. The report said France’s cycle plunged into the rear of a Chevrolet Cavalier, driven by Laura Edmisten, 34. France was ejected at impact, taken to Northside Hospital in nearby St. Petersburg, and pronounced dead at the hospital’s emergency unit.

Police said the accident is under investigation and no charges have been filed.

France, a 2002 Auburn High School graduate, served five years in the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of E-5 Sergeant.

Recently, France was serving in the U.S. Army National Reserves and living in St. Petersburg, where he studied aviation. Daniel told the newspaper that France experienced baptism in the Jordan River, and enjoyed worldwide travel, including stops in Rome and Paris.

“He did so much for us and our country,” Daniel said. “He served one year in Iraq and one year in Afghanistan, and then he came back to me. I remember his strength, his leadership and he knew what to do right. He never got into trouble. He was a respectable young man. He was very loving. He wanted to take care of his mother.”

Harris Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

Alabama loses a hero

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the fallen:

Montgomery soldier killed Thursday in Afghanistan

A soldier from Montgomery was one of two killed in Afghanistan on Thursday.

The Department of Defense Saturday identified the two casualties as Chief Warrant Officer James Carter, 42, of Montgomery and 20-year-old Pfc. Andre D. McNair, Jr., 20, of Fort Pierce, Fla.

They died on June 5 at Kandahar Army Airfield, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when the Kiowa helicopter they were in went down during a test flight.

The incident is under investigation.

They were assigned to the 96th Aviation Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.