Army Sgt. Benjamin W. Sherman

Died November 10, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

21, of Plymouth, Mass.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Nov. 4 in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, while participating in a resupply mission.

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Hundreds pay tribute to Mass. paratrooper

The Associated Press

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray joined hundreds of relatives, friends, soldiers and well-wishers paying tribute to a U.S. paratrooper who died while trying to save a comrade in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Benjamin Sherman of Plymouth died after jumping into the river to save a colleague who was also swept away by the current. The two soldiers were trying to retrieve airdropped supplies from a river in western Afghanistan.

Sherman’s body was found Nov. 10, six days after he disappeared. He was promoted posthumously.

Members of the veterans’ motorcycle group, the Patriot Guard Riders, mounted an honor guard during calling hours at the Richard Davis Funeral Home.

A funeral service is set for 11 a.m. Nov. 19 at the Second Church of Plymouth in Manomet. Burial will follow at the Manomet Cemetery.

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Fan of loud rock music, sports, playing golf

The Associated Press

Ben Sherman knew how to make people feel comfortable, whether by entertaining them with a practical joke or saying exactly what they needed to hear.

“Ben always had a way of making people feel good about themselves,” said his wife, Patricia, who is expecting the couple’s first child in March.

Sherman, a 21-year-old Army paratrooper from Plymouth, Mass., drowned Nov. 4 in Afghanistan’s Badghis province. He was swept away as he tried to recover air-dropped supplies that had accidentally fallen into a river, police in Afghanistan said.

His family said they believe he died trying to rescue a fellow soldier on the same assignment who also drowned.

“He was an amazing guy,” his wife said. “He was very outgoing. He gave the world his all. ... He would stop what he was doing and go help somebody who was in need.”

Sherman, a 2006 graduate of Plymouth South High School, was assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C.

He loved baseball, football and basketball, and liked to hit golf balls at the driving range on weekends, Patricia Sherman said. He also loved any kind of raucous rock music with a lead singer who screamed, she said.