Army Sgt. Anthony O. Thompson

Died September 18, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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26, of Orangeburg, S.C.; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas; killed Sept. 18 during an ambush by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in Tikrit, Iraq. Two other soldiers from his unit also were killed.

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Sergeant from Branchville, S.C., killed in Iraq, is buried

Associated Press

BRANCHVILLE, S.C. — An Army sergeant killed in an ambush in Iraq was buried Sunday.

Staff Sgt. Anthony Orlando Thompson was the second Orangeburg County man to die since the war in Iraq began.

Thompson and two other soldiers died Sept. 18 during a small arms and rocket-propelled grenade ambush five miles south of Tikrit, Iraq, The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reported.

Pfc. Vorn J. Mack, 19, also a 2002 Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School graduate, died Aug. 23 in Iraq.

Anthony Thompson was a faithful friend to all who knew him, said his sister, Mary Ellen Bell.

“He was a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a soldier and a good friend,” Bell said.

The Branchville native was one of five children, but known as the “little baby,” Bell said. He played football and basketball at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School before graduating in 1995. He joined the Army on Nov. 7, 1996.

Four years ago, Thompson married his high school sweetheart, the former Valerie Green. They have a son, 2-year-old Jaykwon Kyreek Thompson.