WASHINGTON – Two more servicemen with ties to the state were killed in Iraq this weekend, bringing to 46 the number of Maryland’s dead.
A sailor raised in Harford County died Saturday from wounds sustained during a bomb-disposal operation in Al Anbar province, the Defense Department announced Monday.
Late Monday night, the department also reported that an Army sergeant from Mount Airy was killed Sunday when a bomb exploded near his Stryker vehicle during a mounted patrol in Baghdad.
Petty Officer 2nd Class David Sean Roddy, 32, an explosive disposal technician based out of Norfolk, Va., was killed by a bomb that detonated as he approached it to dismantle it.
Roddy, of Aberdeen, Miss., joined the Navy in November 1999. After four years of working with computers, he shifted specialties, completing Navy Ordinance Disposal School in April 2005. He was assigned to the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit Two, a month later.
Sgt. David J. Davis, also 32, was a medic attached to the Army’s 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Davis joined the Army in April 2003 and was assigned to Fort Wainright six months later. He was married shortly before his unit shipped out in August 2005, his brother, James, told the Associated Press.
David Davis, a Lisbon volunteer firefighter, hoped the emergency care skills he cultivated in the service would help land a job as a professional firefighter, his brother said.
“He was ready to come back home,” James Davis said. “He wanted to do his job and come back home.”
Carey McIntosh, assistant chief at the Lisbon Volunteer Fire Company in Howard County, who worked with Davis for 15 years, described him as a “real country boy,” who was never without his boots and hat, and who helped his brother run a beef cattle farm in Frederick County.
“He was always raring to go. You always knew when he was around,” said McIntosh, who also attended Gleneld High School with Davis. “He was a dedicated volunteer in everything he did. He never hesitated to help anyone.”
After Roddy’s friend, Chief Petty Officer Paul Darga, was killed last month by a homemade bomb, he had called home more often, his wife, Cristale Roddy, of Hampton, Va., told the AP. He told his wife that he was excited to see her and their three children, ages 7 to 10.
“He was counting down the days to come home.”
— 30 — CNS-9-19-06