Friday, June 09 2006 @ 06:12 AM EDT
Contributed by: River97
Views: 752
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 www.fortwayne.com -- AVON, Ind. - An Indiana National Guard soldier from Hendricks County, who was recently presented a Purple Heart by the governor, was killed by small arms fire while on a patrol in Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Richard A. Blakley, 34, died Tuesday near Al Khalidiyah, Iraq, state officials said Thursday.
Gov. Mitch Daniels presented Blakley with a Purple Heart during a ceremony in Baghdad on April 15, when the governor visited Iraq and Afghanistan. The medic had been injured by a sniper in January, was treated locally and returned to active duty the same day.
"I spent quite a lot of time with him, hearing his story and all about him and talking to him and talking to his fellow soldiers and his commanding officer," Daniels said Thursday. "It was the single highlight of a very eventful trip."
Blakley, who lived in the western Indianapolis suburb of Avon, was a member of the 38th Main Support Battalion of Indianapolis, but was deployed with the 738th Area Support Medical Company from Monticello.
He and his wife of 10 years, Patty, had two children.
Blakley's mother, Janet Schauwecker, said he was wearing a Colts shirt under his uniform when he was wounded in January and that the team's players were to sign it for him.
"I don't think he ever really would jump into a situation with the idea that if I do this, others are going to think I'm brave or I'm something," she said. "He did it because he knew what had to be done had to done, and he knew how."
After Daniels returned from Iraq, he wrote about awarding the medal to Blakley in a "Notes from the Middle East" summary of the trip.
"When offered a trip home by virtue of his wound, Richard had declined," Daniels wrote. "When told to take a week off to recuperate, he declined. When his commander then suggested at least a few days of rest and observation, he declined again, insisting on rejoining his team that very afternoon." |
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I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
A grateful citizen