Army Sgt. Anthony L. Mangano

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. Anthony L. Mangano, 36, of Greenlawn, N.Y.

Sgt. Mangano was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry (Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition), New York Army National Guard, Geneva, N.Y.; died June 21, 2008 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. Also killed were Lt. Col. James J. Walton, Sgt. Nelson D. Ramirez Rodriguez and Sgt. Andrew Seabrooks.

N.Y. governor orders flags at half-staff for slain soldiers

The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Gov. David Paterson has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff on government buildings across New York state on Sunday in honor of three Army National Guardsmen killed in Afghanistan.

The governor’s office identified the men as Sgt. Andrew Seabrooks of the South Ozone Park section of Queens; Spc. Anthony Mangano of Greenlawn on Long Island; and Spc. Nelson Rodriguez-Ramirez of Revere, Mass.

The soldiers were killed last Saturday in an ambush en route to a training site. Their vehicle was attacked by an improvised explosive device outside Kandahar, Afghanistan.

All three were assigned to A Troop, Second Squadron 101st Cavalry in upstate New York. They were part of a multinational task force training the Afghan national army and police.

Newsday -- A New York Army National Guard soldier from Greenlawn who had chosen to re-enlist and another from Queens were among four U.S. troops killed in an attack in Afghanistan on Saturday, Defense Department officials said yesterday.

Spc. Anthony L. Mangano, 36, of Greenlawn, and Sgt. Andrew Seabrooks, 36, of South Ozone Park, died after their vehicle was hit by a bomb and came under small-arms fire, according to a U.S. Department of Defense statement released yesterday.

"He loved his country more than anything, and he wanted to do something to make it safer," Mangano's mother, Constance, said last night outside the Irving Place home she shared with Anthony, across the street from her other son, Michael.

Also killed were Sgt. Nelson D. Rodriguez Ramirez, 22, of Revere, Mass., and Lt. Col. James J. Walton, 41, of Rockville, Md.

Mangano, Seabrooks and Rodriguez Ramirez were all members of 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry of the New York National Guard, based in upstate Geneva.

Constance Mangano said she last spoke with her son Friday, hours before he was killed. She said her son looked forward to visiting his wife, Tatiana, in Brazil during a leave next month.

The two married in December after dating for several years.

Constance Mangano said her son works in construction and had been an officer in the upstate Cairo Police Department when her family lived in the Catskills. He looked forward to returning to a law enforcement career in Florida, she said.

Anthony Mangano, who has an associate degree from upstate Columbia-Greene Community College, first served in the National Guard in 1991 and chose to re-enlist last year for another three-year tour.

Mangano was posthumously promoted to sergeant, his mother said. He is also survived by his sister, Jeanne Renneberg, 45. His father, Leonard, died in 2002. Seabrooks' relatives could not be reached last night.

Army Sgt. Anthony L. Mangano was killed in action on 6/21/08.