Sgt. Bradley Crose of the 1st Ranger Battalion
at Hunter
Army Airfield, Savannah, Ga. died in a gun
battle with Taliban and al-Qaida fighters after two MH-47 Chinook
helicopters were hit by grenades.
Of the eight
American soldiers killed Monday in combat in Afghanistan, three of
them belonged to 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Hunter AAF:
Savannah, GA
* Sgt. Bradley Crose, 22, of Orange Park, Fla.
* Spc.
Mark A. Anderson, 30, of Brandon, Fla.
* Pfc. Matthew
Commons, 21, Boulder City, Nev.
He was
the most treasured thing I could give my country, his father, Ricky
Crose said Tuesday, his voice breaking. I want people to know the
sacrifices he made.
r
 Two Army Rangers were laid to rest with military honors
Monday, six months to the day after a wave of terrorist attacks in
the United States plunged the nation into a war in distant
Afghanistan. In funerals in two Florida cities, tearful mourners
were told Spc. Marc A. Anderson and Sgt. Bradley Crose lived and
died by the Ranger Creed -- never leave a fallen comrade
behind.
Anderson of Brandon and Crose of Orange Park served
with the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Hunter Army
Airfield, Ga. They were among seven U.S. servicemen killed one week
ago in Afghanistan during a nine-hour firefight trying to rescue a
Navy Seal. "Marc had always told me, his mother and his brothers,
that if he had to go in and get a fallen comrade on the battlefield
and got killed, then it was worth it," David Anderson said just
before the funeral Mass for his son at St. Raphael Catholic Church
in St. Petersburg.
BRADLEY S.
CROSE
EMT-I EXCELLENCE AWARD
|
