An Army sergeant from Seaside Park is the latest casualty in the war in Afghanistan, Pentagon officials announced Friday.
SGT John A. Lyons, 26, a 2003 graduate of Central Regional High School in Berkeley, died Wednesday of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire, in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.
He was assigned to the 8th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas, according to the Defense Department.
Lyons’ death comes a week before the scheduled announcement next Wednesday by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai of a plan for Afghan troops to take over all or parts of 17 of 34 provinces — among them the capital of Ghazni. The move — to take place in December or January — is the second step in a transition that Karzai hopes will leave his forces in control of the entire nation by the end of 2014.
Lyons was scheduled to arrive home in December, just three days before his 27th birthday, according to his aunt, Beth Merle of Ramsey, a spokeswoman for the family, who stood outside the Seaside Park home where Lyons’ mother, Susan Smiley, resides.
“We were all expecting to have him home for the holidays and his birthday,” Merle said.
She said Army soldiers arrived at Smiley’s home on Friday morning to bring news of her son’s death. Merle said the family is extremely close and family members had been arriving throughout the day to be with Smiley.
Lyons graduated Rutgers University, where he majored in political science and Latin, Merle said. She said he had enlisted for three years in the Army.
Lyons would have completed his three-year tour of duty in June 2012. Merle said this was Lyons’ first 12-month deployment to Afghanistan.
Lyons is the youngest of three children, and is survived by a brother and a sister, Merle said.
Lyons joined the Army in February 2009 as a combat engineer and was assigned to the battalion and brigade at Fort Hood since June 2009, according to a statement issued by the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office. Lyons deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in December 2010, according to the Army.
Lyons’ awards and decorations include the NATO Medal, three Army Achievement Medals, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with campaign star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon and Combat Action Badge, according to the statement issued by the Army.
SGT Lyons is the 1,822nd American killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden
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