Army Sgt. 1st Class Duane A. Thornsbury

Died September 12, 2009 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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30, of Bridgeport, W. Va.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, Fort Carson, Colo.; died Sept.12 in Baghdad of injuries sustained during a vehicle rollover.

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‘A no-nonsense type of soldier’

The Associated Press

One of Duane “Tony” Thornsbury’s friends said it wasn’t often you meet a person who will make you stop and think, “there is just something about them.”

But “Tony was that guy!” Sgt. James Smith wrote in an online memorial.

Other friends recalled Thornsbury in a similar fashion.

“He was a go-getter, a no-nonsense type of soldier,” Tony Batts wrote in the same online message board, noting he served with Thornsbury in Iraq from 2003-04.

Thornsbury, 30, of Bridgeport, W.Va., died Sept. 12 in Baghdad of injuries suffered in a vehicle rollover. He was assigned to Fort Carson, Colo., and graduated from Grafton (W.Va.) High School, where he was on the wrestling team.

Holly Lane of Winchester, Va., recalled Thornsbury as “a part of our family” when he dated her older sister years ago.

“He was the one to teach me how to ride a horse and gave me riding lessons,” Lane wrote online.

He was on his third deployment to Iraq. Thornsbury had earned his Green Beret in 2006, becoming a weapons sergeant.