Army 1st Lt. Tyler Hall Brown, the former Woodward Academy and Georgia Tech student leader killed in action Sept. 14, was slain by a sniper as he led a reconnaissance patrol in an Iraqi town infested with insurgents, according to Brown's infantry company commander.

The sniper, who fired at long range, got away, said Capt. Daniel M. Gade in e-mail communications from Iraq to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

(ENLARGE)
Army 1st Lt. Tyler Brown was slain by a sniper Sept. 14 as he led a reconnaissance patrol in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq.
EMAIL THIS PRINT THIS MOST POPULAR
Sign a guest book for Tyler Brown

Brown's funeral was Wednesday in Atlanta. In two days of e-mails earlier this week, Gade described the young officer as "an inspirational leader, both on the field of battle and off. In numerous enemy contacts, he was calm, leading his men with bravery and aplomb."

Mortally wounded by the sniper's shot, Brown, 26, "was able to give a warning to his men, which prevented any others from being hit," Gade added.

Though he was wearing upper body armor, Brown was hit in the upper thigh, and "a tourniquet could not stop the bleeding, probably from his femoral artery. . . . He died of his wounds rather quickly," Gade wrote.

"We know he's in heaven now," Gade added. "That will provide some measure of comfort in the dark days ahead."

Their Army unit, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, had been deployed from South Korea in early September and had been in Iraq only two weeks when Brown was killed, Gade said.

Funeral services for Brown were held at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. The 2001 Georgia Tech student body president and ROTC graduate will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday.

His parents, Carey and Sally Brown, live in Atlanta's Brookhaven community.

A West Point graduate, Gade, 29, said he and Brown became friends in South Korea, where Brown commanded a platoon in Gade's company before the deployment to Iraq.

"Tyler was the finest officer I've ever known . . . he loved his men, and they loved him in return," Gade said. He wrote that before Sept. 14, Brown's platoon had suffered only one injury — a soldier "slightly wounded" by an improvised explosive device. The platoon also encountered small-arms fire "as an added bonus," he said.

Brown, who Gade said believed in the Iraq mission, was killed in the town of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. Gade said the area is close to Fallujah, "which has essentially become a sanctuary for the enemy and a major problem for the stability for Iraq as a whole."

Gade wrote that in his opinion "the lightning rod for these enemy forces is the U.S. itself. If these soldiers were say, Danish, the insurgency would lose some credibility."

"I sincerely hope that democracy takes root here," he said.

Brown had been approved for service in the Army's famous 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, Gade said. The regiment guards the Tomb of the Unknowns and serves as an escort in military burials at Arlington.

Instead, Brown chose to go to Iraq with the men from his battalion in South Korea "over this more prestigious assignment," Gade said.

On Tuesday, the Old Guard he would have joined will honor Brown at his grave.