Army Pfc. Brandon R. Sapp

Died August 15, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Lake Worth, Fla.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed Aug. 15 when his M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Najaf, Iraq.

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Florida soldier killed in Iraq

Associated Press

LAKE WORTH, Fla. — A 21-year-old soldier who joined the military in order to boost a future career in law enforcement was killed in Iraq when a bomb exploded under his Army vehicle, officials and family members said.

Pfc. Brandon R. Sapp, of Lake Worth, died Sunday when his M2 Bradley fighting vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Najaf, Iraq, the Department of Defense said.

Sapp was awarded a Purple Heart for his injuries and a Bronze Star, said his father, John Sapp of Lake Worth.

“He wanted to fight for what’s right,” John Sapp said. “He had a chance not to go (to Iraq), but he said they trained him to do this and he was not going to sit around and not do it.”

Brandon Sapp, a Santaluces High School graduate, joined the Army in May 2003 at age 19 and went to Iraq in mid-March. After the military, he wanted to be a member of a police SWAT team, his father said.

The soldier called his family almost every week, his father said, but the last phone call was a change from his usual upbeat demeanor. Sapp was sober as he described bombings and the memorial service he attended for a soldier he had befriended.

“He told me it was really intense,” John Sapp said. “I’ve never seen him so down. That’s the last thing I told him, that he was a hero and that I loved him.”

Sapp was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

He is survived by his father, his mother, Hope Veverka, three brothers and a sister.

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Friends, family mourn Lake Worth soldier killed in Iraq

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — More than 100 people at a memorial service remembered a 21-year-old soldier killed in Iraq as a happy-go-lucky guy who liked going to the motorsports park and playing guitar.

Pfc. Brandon R. Sapp, of Lake Worth, died Aug. 15 when his M2 Bradley fighting vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Najaf, Iraq, the Department of Defense said.

“He died with so much dignity and courage,” said his mother, Hope Veverka, during the Sunday service at Unity of the Palm Beaches. “How can you not be proud of that?”

The mourners read upbeat letters that Sapp wrote to his mother.

“Can’t stop thinking about home, the friends, the family, the girls,” he wrote in one letter. “It’s not bad, it’s just that I miss everything and everybody. It’ll be all good though!”

Tony Brandenburg, Sapp’s friend and neighbor, said the young soldier enjoyed Moroso Motorsports Park and playing his guitar. Sapp frequently talked about becoming a police officer and making the SWAT team, Brandenburg said, which was one of the reasons his friend joined the military.

Sapp, who was assigned to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

— Associated Press