 The Northwest Florida Daily News -- EGLIN AFB — Air Force Tech. Sgt. Anthony L. Capra, 31, died Wednesday thousands of miles away, but memories of the courageous explosive ordnance disposal technician are being relived along the Emerald Coast.
“It’s a huge hit to the Eglin EOD flight by knowing Tony personally,” said unit commander Capt. Shane Firth. “We won’t be able to forget his character and the way he represented the EOD community. The impact is tremendous on the local troops here.”
A Department of Defense press release issued Thursday stated Capra died from wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near Golden Hills, Iraq.
Although he was in Iraq, Capra was assigned to an Eglin’s Detachment 63 of the 688th Armament Systems Squadron. The detachment serves the Defense Department’s EOD program operating out of Indian Head City, Md.
Before that, Capra was assigned to the 96th Civil Engineer Squadron at Eglin from February 2003 to September 2007. No members of his former squadron were available for comment Thursday.
Capra holds many medals and decorations, including a Bronze Star for meritorious service. It was presented to Capra, then a staff sergeant, and six others from Eglin’s EOD flight in May 2006 by former 96th Air Base Wing commander Col. Edmond B. Keith.
“From the time that I pin the Bronze Star on their chests, they will become American heroes,” Keith said during the ceremony. |
I would just like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family and loved ones, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy. God knows how American and Iraqi lives you saved by the job you did defusing and disposing of countless IEDs and unexploded ordnance.
A grateful citizen