Monday, July 23 2007 @ 09:37 AM EDT
Contributed by: tomw
Views: 533
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 (AP) EARLEVILLE, Md. A Cecil County soldier who died in Iraq believed in what he was fighting for, family members said.
Pfc. Brandon M. Craig, 25, of Earleville, died in Husayniyah, Iraq, of wounds from a makeshift bomb, the Department of Defense said in a news release.
 "He really believed in what he was doing over there," cousin Dawne Allen told The Washington Post.
Craig was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for Valor last month for his actions when his unit came under attack. Craig, an infantryman, was posthumously promoted to corporal, said Joe Hitt, a spokesman for Fort Lewis, Wash., where Craig was stationed.
"He was a great gentleman and a great young man," Craig's grandfather, Reginald Craig of Earlville, told The (Baltimore) Sun.
Allen said Craig had been a carpenter and a restaurant cook and joined the Army last year because he "wanted to make something of himself."
"He just wanted to make his life better," Allen said.
Craig enlisted in the Army in February 2006 and underwent basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. His unit was deployed to Iraq this April for a 15-month tour, Hitt said.
Craig was the 63rd service member from Maryland to die in Iraq since the conflict began in 2003. |
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I would 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.
A grateful citizen