Gary R. Harper Jr
Profile
Age: 29
From: Virden, Ill.
Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, Fort Campbell, Ky.
Incident: Army Staff Sgt. Gary R. Harper Jr. was killed Oct. 9 when his reconnaissance mission was attacked by enemy forces in Baghdad.
Died: October 09, 2005
Special Forces medic from central Illinois killed Iraq
Associated Press
VIRDEN, Ill. — An Army Special Forces medic from central Illinois has been killed in Iraq, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Staff Sgt. Gary R. Harper Jr., 29, of Virden was killed Sunday when insurgents ambushed his unit during a reconnaissance mission near Baghdad, said Lt. Col. Hans Bush, a spokesman for Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Linda Morrison, Harper’s mother, said her son told his three children he was going to Iraq to protect them.
“He was a family man. He told his children he was going to go over to fight so they don’t come over here to hurt us,” Morrison told The (Springfield) State Journal-Register. “That’s who Gary was.”
Harper, who joined the Army in 1993 and deployed to Iraq in June, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Brad Paisley, who coached Harper when...
Occupation
Incident
Prayers & Messages
Heartfelt symathies to all his family.
His children will grow up proud of there father.