Army Spc. Jerry R. King

Died April 23, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

---

19, of Browersville, Ga.; assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died April 23 in Sadah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his location. Also killed were Sgt. Michael L. Vaughan, Sgt. Brice A. Pearson, Sgt. Randell T. Marshall, 1st Lt. Kevin J. Gaspers, Staff Sgt. Kenneth E. Locker Jr., Staff Sgt. William C. Moore, Spc. Michael J. Rodriguez and Pfc. Garrett C. Knoll.

---

Soldier from Georgia among paratroopers killed

The Associated Press

CARNESVILLE, Ga. — A 19-year-old soldier from northeast Georgia was among nine members of the 82nd Airborne Division to die when suicide bombers attacked an outpost in Iraq, his father and a school official said April 25.

Pfc. Ryen King was the second member of the 2005 class of Franklin County High School to be killed in Iraq in six months.

King was a two-sport athlete and member of the school’s Young Democrats.

“I sensed that he felt, probably, that the structure of the military would be good for him as he prepared for college,” principal Diane Toney said.

King’s father, Jerry King of Bowersville, said his son told him he felt a “need to serve.”

Two suicide bombers struck the building in Diyala province April 23, causing it to collapse. Twenty others were wounded in the attack.

King had been in Iraq since August. He had five sisters, ages 2 to 20, and was a role model for them, his father said.

“He had a lot of sense of responsibility protecting his sisters,” King said. “He really cared a lot about them.”

In January, the soldier was home for a two-week leave.

“He spent most of his time with his girlfriend snow skiing,” King said.

His girlfriend, University of Georgia student Hanna Davidson of Royston, was notified of his death while studying in Italy and was expected to return April 25, King said.

Baseball coach Derrick Davis said Ryen King played football and was a catcher during his freshman and junior years.

In November, Pfc. Daniel Allman II, 20, of Canon died when his Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device.