Army Staff Sgt. Sandy R. Britt

Died August 21, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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30, of Apopka, Fla.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Aug. 21 near Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit during combat operations.

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Soldier from Apopka killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

APOPKA, Fla. — A soldier from central Florida died from wounds sustained when a bomb detonated near his unit in Iraq, the Department of Defense said Aug. 23.

Staff Sgt. Sandy R. Britt, 30, of Apopka, Fla., died Aug. 21 near Baghdad. He was an infantry squad leader assigned to the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Britt was in the Navy before joining the Army in October 2003 and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division two years later.

Britt graduated from Lake Mary High School in 1994, his mother Sara Arnold told the Orlando Sentinel.

“I got a call from his captain at Fort Bragg about how much he will be missed,” Arnold told the newspaper. “He said he was an exemplary soldier who always tried to do more.”

Arnold said she last spoke to her son Aug. 19. She planned to send him his specially requested toothpaste and several magazines he wanted to read.

“His willingness to serve his country and lead great soldiers [are] just two examples of the type of soldier Britt was,” said Staff Sgt. Larry Coburn, Britt’s former team leader.

Besides his mother, Britt is survived by his wife, Valorie, 5-year-old son Taylor, of Raeford, N.C., and father Terry Britt.