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MILLINGTON -- Anthony R.C. Yost was two months away from retiring with 20 years in the military when he was killed, family members say. "He was coming home (to Millington) in January; he wanted to get out so that he could be there for his 2-year-old son, A.J. (Anthony James)," said Yost's grandmotherFern M. Yost, 79, of Clio.
A suicide bomber on Friday killed Yost, an Army Special Forces master sergeant, in Iraq, a federal Department of Defense Web site shows.
The vehicle detonated near his position during combat operations. Yost was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group in Fort Bragg, N.C. Yost, 39, and his wife, Joann, had lived in North Carolina where he was stationed.
"They said he was a hero, the way he died," Yost's mother, Penny Cairnduff of Linden, said of soldiers who on Saturday notified her of her son's death.
Cairnduff said her son, a 1984 graduate of Millington High School, spoke five languages and was a sniper expert. She remembered her son as a giving person who loved his children and family. "He was a smart kid. He loved his job," she said.
Yost also has a daughter, Cheyenne, 13, by his first wife, Penny. Cheyenne attends Jake L. Meachum Junior High School in Millington. The family decided to bury Yost at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., they said.