Register now, it's free! |
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/15/08
His parents had already begun buying decorations for Jon Ayers' homecoming party. The Army corporal was due to return to Snellville in three weeks.
He had but one week remaining on his first tour of Afghanistan.
|
Ayers, 24, died Sunday in the northeastern province of Kunar, where militants launched one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. troops since the 2001 invasion,
He was one of at least two Georgia soldiers killed Sunday in Afghanistan. Master Sgt. Mitchell Young, of Jonesboro died when his vehicle struck an explosive in Kajaki Sofla. The U.S. Department of Defense has not yet released all the names of those killed in Kunar province.
Ayers and his comrades were completing work on a new U.S. base in a remote, mountainous region bordering Pakistan, said his father, Bill Ayers.
"The last few weeks we were told that tensions had really escalated," the elder Ayers said.
But that didn't deter his son, an ROTC commander at Shiloh High School.
"He was always very positive about the mission," said Bill Ayers. "He'd say, 'Dad, we're doing really good things over there.' "
Funeral services are pending. Jon Ayers is survived by his parents, Bill and Suzanne Ayers, and his older brother, Josh.
Vote for this story!
More on ajc.com
- Snellville soldier killed in action 07/16/2008
- Family struggles with loss of soldier son 07/17/2008
- Tuskegee Airman dies in Virginia 08/25/2008
- Widow of Confederate soldier dies at 93 08/19/2008
- Fallen soldiers' families mourn together 07/21/2008
- Worsening Afghan war kills 3 Georgians 07/17/2008
- A PAINFUL LOSS 07/17/2008
- Afghanistan violence claims 3 metro area soldiers 07/16/2008
- Barnesville soldier killed in Afghanistan 05/20/2008
- Army Experience Center offers simulations at mall 08/30/2008
Inside AJC.COM
MOST POPULAR STORIES



DEL.ICIO.US





