New details were released Friday in the deaths of three soldiers caught in an explosion in the Wardack Province of Afghanistan, including Army SPC Ryan M. Lumley, of Lakeland.
According to a report released by the Army, Lumley, 21, and his unit were on their way to a combat outpost in southern Sayadabad on a cloudless 3 Dec 11 afternoon when an explosion occurred directly beneath one of their vehicles. In a scene some of their comrades described as “surreal” and “in slow motion,” members of the platoon rushed to rescue the soldiers from the burning vehicle, the report said. They pulled a medic and interpreter to safety, but were unable to fight against flames to rescue Lumley, Sgt. 1st Class Clark Corley and Spc. Thomas Mayberry.
The funeral for Lumley has been set for next Saturday at Heath Funeral Chapel in Lakeland. He is scheduled to be buried at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.
According to the report, Lumley, who lived in Lakeland briefly, joined the military in May 2009. Once finished with infantryman training, he reported to Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas, for his first assignment. He was deployed to Afghanistan to serve as a vehicle operator.
The Army report included kind words from one of his fellow soldiers, Spc. Josue Gonzalez-Cruz, who attested to Lumley’s love for his wife and plans to throw a barbeque party for his platoon once they returned home from deployment.
Activity on Lumley’s Facebook page online showed people planning to send care packages to him as recently as November. A note on Nov. 1 by a woman named Jodi Barry, listed as his mother on the social networking website, expressed an outpouring of support and pride.
“Hey honey just think of all you will want to do next year,” Barry wrote. “Just know we are all thinking of you everyday and love and miss you and are marking our calendars off one day at a time [until] you return.”
SPC Lumley is the 1,850th American killed in Afghanistan … Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden
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