Army Maj. Brian M. Mescall

Died January 9, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

---

33, of Hopkinton, Mass.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, Hohenfels, Germany; died Jan. 9 in Jaldak, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Spc. Joseph M. Hernandez and Spc. Jason R. Parsons.

---

Mass. soldier had ties to NH

The Associated Press

EXETER, N.H. — A Massachusetts soldier with ties to New Hampshire was killed in Afghanistan recently when a bomb exploded near his military vehicle.

The Department of Defense said Jan. 12 that Maj. Brian M. Mescall, 33, of Hopkinton, Mass., died Jan. 9 in Zabul province. Also killed in the bombing were 24-year-old Spc. Jason R. Parsons of Lenoir, N.C., and 24-year-old Spc. Joseph M. Hernandez, 24, of Hammond, Ind.

The three were assigned to 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, in Hohenfels, Germany.

Keith Tode, a close friend of Mecall’s, said he graduated from Exeter High School in 1993 and moved to Massachusetts with his family following graduation.

Mescall was a 1997 graduate of The Citadel. He was a member of the company F-Troop and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in history. He also took summer school classes at Framingham State College.

Mescall is survived by his parents, John and Peggy Mescall of Lowell, Mass., his wife, Chiun, and his son, Nathan.

---

Cyclist was a ‘sweetheart’

The Associated Press

Brian M. Mescall was an avid cyclist with a big heart.

A friend, Keith Tode, recalled the time when an uninsured motorist, a man from Laos, hit Mescall when he was riding his bike.

Rather than report the incident, Mescall worked to try to get the man a job as a court translator.

“He was such a sweetheart,” Tode said. “He was so nice that you wouldn’t think he would want to go into the military, but he was so patriotic.”

Mescall, 33, of Hopkinton, Mass., died Jan. 9 when a bomb detonated near his vehicle in Jaldak, Afghanistan. He was a 1997 graduate of The Citadel and was assigned to Hohenfels, Germany.

Friends described him as a happy-go-lucky guy whose constant smiles, rosy cheeks and reddish blond hair earned him the nickname “Howdy Doody.” He would eat MREs while working at a supermarket, saying he wanted to get used to the “bad food” because that’s what he planned to eat for the rest of his life.

Mescall was stationed in Korea and served several tours of duty in Iraq before he was transferred to Germany.

“Brian was an aggressive warfighter and a magnificent trainer. He never backed down from a mission,” said Army Maj. Kevin Poole.

He is survived by his wife, Chiun, and his son, Nathan.