Andrew Jon Shields, 19, a soldier from Battle Ground, Clark County,
was killed Saturday in Afghanistan.
According to the Seattle Times, the Army announced Monday
that Shields had been in Afghanistan
for only two months. An Army combat medic and airborne paratrooper, the soldier
was serving with the 173rd Airborne out of Bamberg, Germany.
Apparently, Shields died because a suicide bomber
detonated a car bomb in the city of Jalalabad.
The former athlete was the son of Jon Shields, Clark County
Sheriff's Deputy.
Monday, Battle Ground Mayor Michael Ciraulo asked some
flags to be lowered to half-staff in the memory of soldier Shields.
Ciraulo said that Shields was “one of the leaders in our
fire-cadet program,” and he used to talk to the cadets in an inspirational
manner, reported the Seattle Times.
Many students from Battle Ground
High School, the place
where he graduated just last year, paid their tributes on his internet page.
Diane Miller, president of the fire-cadet booster club said
that Shields wanted to be an airborne medic, being a very determined young man.
According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, 22 Army members
from Washington’s hometowns have been killed
in Afghanistan
since the war started. Nationwide, about 500 members of the U.S. armed forces have died in the
war since 2001.
© 2007 - 2008 - eFluxMedia
