Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas J. Reid

Died December 13, 2012 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

---

26, of Rochester, N.Y.; assigned to the 53rd Ordnance Company (EOD), 3rd Ordnance Battalion (EOD), Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; died Dec. 13 in Landstuhl, Germany from wounds suffered on Dec. 9, in Sperwan Village, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. 

---

Slain soldier laid to rest in western N.Y.

The Associated Press

BROCKPORT, N.Y. — A 26-year-old soldier who was fatally wounded in Afghanistan is being laid to rest outside Rochester.

Staff Sgt. Nicholas Reid, of Brockport, died Dec. 13 at a hospital in Germany. The Defense Department says he was wounded Dec. 9 by an improvised explosive device.

His funeral was being held Saturday in Chili, a Rochester suburb.

Reid enlisted in the Army in 2006. He served with the 53rd Ordnance Company of the 3rd Ordnance Battalion. This was his second deployment to Afghanistan.

---

Body of Brockport soldier returns home

By Meaghan M. McDermott, Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY)
 
In a freezing cold wind and under a gray winter sky Dec. 26, a charter jet carrying the body of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas J. Reid touched down at the N.Y. Army National Guard facility on Patriot Way in Chili.
 
Staff Sgt. Reid, 26, died Dec. 13 in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries suffered in the Dec. 9 explosion of an improvised explosive device in Sperwan Village, Afghanistan.
 
The mournful skirl of bagpipes sounded Amazing Grace across the tarmac as Staff Sgt. Reid's flag-draped coffin was transferred to a hearse for transport to Fowler Funeral Home in Brockport.
 
The hearse left the airport followed by police cruisers, firetrucks and bomb squad trucks from the Monroe and Wayne county sheriff's offices and Rochester Police Department. Dozens of members of the Patriot Guard Riders — motorcycle enthusiasts who join funeral processions of service men and women at the families' requests — followed along.
 
"We come out to honor our fallen, unlike in the days of Vietnam," said Tim Yetter, the Finger Lakes Region ride captain for the Patriot Guard Riders. "We are here to help make sure he receives the welcome home he deserves."
 
Just before the railroad bridge over Main Street in the village, the procession passed under a huge U.S. flag suspended from the extended ladder of a Brockport Fire Department truck.
 
Staff Sgt. Reid, a 2004 graduate of Brockport High School, entered the Army in August 2006. He was assigned to the 53rd Ordnance Company of the 3rd Ordnance Battalion based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
 
His unit deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in September, and he was on his second deployment when the explosion occurred.
 
Calling hours will be from noon to 3 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Fowler Funeral Home, 340 West Ave., Brockport. His funeral service will be at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at The Father's House, 715 Paul Road, Chili.
 
The Reid family declined to comment publicly and requested that the media not attend Saturday's service. The family did ask in a paid obituary that those wishing to remember Staff Sgt. Reid consider donating to the EOD Memorial at www.eodmemorial.org.