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Army Pvt. Barry W. Mayo

Died March 5, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom


21, of Ecru, Miss. .; assigned to the 1st Squadron, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died March 5 in Baqubah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit. Also killed were Spc. Blake Harris and Spc. Ryan D. Russell.

North Mississippi soldier dies in Iraq

The Associated Press

ECRU, Miss. — A 21-year-old U.S. Army private from north Mississippi has been killed in Iraq, the Defense Department confirmed March 7.

“Everyone is very upset,” said Patricia Mayo of Myrtle, the grandmother of Pvt. Barry Mayo of Ecru.

The Department of Defense in a statement Wednesday said Mayo and two other soldiers died March 5 in Baqubah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their unit.

Mayo was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Ryan D. Russell, 20, of Elm City, N.C., and Blake Harris, 22, of Pueblo, Colo., died with Mayo.

Family members said Mayo’s mother, Kimberly Yarbrough, and her husband, live in Texas. His brother, Andy Lee Mayo, is a Myrtle resident.

Becky Mayo of Ecru, the soldier’s stepmother, said military officials told the family Tuesday that her stepson’s body would be flown to a military facility in Dover, Del., on Thursday “and they would be getting him ready for a military funeral.”

“They said they would call us back and tell us when to meet the airplane at the airport in Tupelo to get his body,” she said.

Mayo attended North Pontotoc High School and had one semester at Northeast Mississippi Community College before entering the Army.

“He first went over to Iraq when he just turned 18,” Patricia Mayo said. “He had come back home and had been back for two weeks before he went back on Feb. 20, his 21st birthday.”

Becky Mayo said her stepson had thought he would be coming home after three years of service before his unit was told last August that they would be going to Iraq. She said during his return home last month, Mayo had expressed hope he would be out this August.

Family members said they had talked Tuesday with Mayo’s mother to discuss funeral arrangements. They said a funeral home in New Albany would handle services and burial would be at Union Hill United Methodist Church in the Myrtle area.

Another serviceman from the area, Marine Cpl. Clifton B. Mounce, 22, was killed earlier in Iraq. Mounce, who went by the name Blake, of Pontotoc, Miss., died July 14, 2005, when an explosive struck his vehicle near Trebil. He was based at Camp Lejeune.

With Mayo’s death, The Associated Press has counted at least 51 soldiers with strong Mississippi ties to have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One, Staff Sgt. Christopher L. Robinson, died in Afghanistan while the others died in Iraq.


Miss. soldier’s funeral possible this week

The Associated Press

TUPELO, Miss. — The body of Army Pvt. Barry Mayo of Ecru, killed last week in Iraq, could arrive in Tupelo as early as Wednesday, according to family members.

The Defense Department in a statement Wednesday said Mayo, 21, and two other soldiers died March 5 in Baqubah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their unit.

Mayo was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Ryan D. Russell, 20, of Elm City, N.C., and Blake Harris, 22, of Pueblo, Colo., died with Mayo.

When Mayo’s body arrives, an airport ceremony is planned with a procession to United Funeral Home in New Albany, family spokesman Denise Horton, Mayo’s aunt, told www.djournal.com in an e-mail.

Horton said the timing of activities depends upon the Wednesday arrival.

She said visitation was planned Thursday at the funeral home, while a military funeral is possible on Friday. Burial will be in Union Hill Cemetery in the Myrtle area.


Body of soldier slain in Iraq returned to Mississippi

The Associated Press

TUPELO, Miss. — The body of Ecru soldier Pvt. Barry Mayo was returned to northeast Mississippi on March 14.

The 21-year-old and two others were killed March 5 in Baqubah, Iraq, when a bomb exploded near his unit.

Family members accompanied Mayo’s flag-draped casket from the Tupelo Regional Airport to a New Albany funeral home. Dozens of people waiting on highway overpasses waved flags and saluted the convoy.

Along the final mile in New Albany, several people stood outside their cars as the convoy passed.

Visitation will be held March 15 for Mayo at United Funeral Home in New Albany and his funeral will be March 16.

Mayo was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Ryan D. Russell, 20, of Elm City, N.C., and Blake Harris, 22, of Pueblo, Colo., died with the Mississippian.

Mayo, who attended North Pontotoc High School, is the second soldier from Ecru to die in the past two years in Iraq. In June 2005, Marine Cpl. Blake Mounce, 22, was killed in action when the vehicle he was in was struck by an explosive device near Trebil, Iraq.

Julia Simmons of New Albany attended Mounce’s funeral and was saddened to be preparing to attend another.

“My heart just aches for these kids and their families,” Simmons said. “I hate to be here. I hate to have to look at that casket and I hate to watch these mamas cry.”

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