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- The People Behind The Sacrifice
Army Spc. Ryan C. King
Died May 1, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom
22, of Dallas, Ga.; assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 1 near the village of Nishagam, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit. Also killed were Sgt. James D. Pirtle and Staff Sgt. William D. Vile.
Georgia soldier killed in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
ATLANTA, Ga. — A 22-year-old Georgia soldier has been killed in Afghanistan.
Ryan C. King of Paulding County, an Army specialist and a member of the Special Troops Battalion, died May 1 in a fire fight with insurgents in Konar Province.
The Pentagon said a fellow soldier, Sgt. James D. Pirtle of Colorado Springs, Colo., also was killed in the attack.
Funeral arrangements are pending for the fallen soldiers.
Friends cherished time with King
The Associated Press
To Brittney Peters, it seems just like yesterday she and Ryan C. King and their friends were all hanging out and goofing off in the neighborhood.
“I bring myself to tears when I think of all the fun memories we had. I wish there could have been one last goodbye, there are so many things I would have said. Thank you for the memories that will make all of us remember you,” she wrote on an online bulletin board. “I never got the chance to tell you, I am so proud of you and what you have done.”
King, 22, of Dallas, Ga., died May 1 when insurgents attacked his unit in Konar province, Afghanistan. He was a 2005 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas.
A few months after graduation, he enlisted in the Army, something he had wanted to do since he was a child. He went to basic training at Fort Sill, Okla. After he completed his training, he was stationed in Korea for a year, where he met his wife, Sgt. Rachel King.
At a memorial, Spc. Gregory Landgraf read stories of King publishing a newspaper lampooning the soldiers in his unit and a time when King tied his arm behind his back and took on a sergeant during a combative match.