Army Spc. Mikayla A. Bragg, 21, of Longview, Wash.
Spc. Bragg was assigned to the 201st Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Knox, Ky.; died Dec. 21, 2011 in Khowst province, Afghanistan, of a gunshot wound.
Spc Bragg was shot and killed while on duty in a guard tower in Khowst province. She was killed days before she was due to return home.
Spc Bragg graduated from Mark Morris High School in 2008. She joined the Army shortly after graduation to earn money for her education.
Friends said she was classified as a sharpshooter with a rifle and was deployed in August as truck driver.
"She's always been a kind-hearted person," said step-mother, Amber Bragg. "She's always gone out of her way to help out other people in whatever way she could."
"She made everybody laugh," Bragg's best friend, Tiffany Holst said. "She was sweet and caring."
Tiffany said Bragg loved "goofy kid movies" like "Finding Nemo" and "The Spongebob SquarePants Movie," would always cry when Bambi's mother died when watching the Disney film.
"She was always like that," Tiffany said. "She loved animals."
Tiffany's mother, Linda Wheeler, said, "You would've had to have met her to know Mikayla," said Wheeler. "We watched her grow up into a mature, wonderful woman. She was a heck of a character, she would always help people smile. And she'd always let you know if you were doing something you weren't supposed to be doing. ... She died a hero in my eyes."
"She definitely had her own style," said Denae Smith, who once worked with Bragg at the Walgreen's drug store along Ocean Beach Highway. "She was the one with the crazy hair and crazy makeup. I wouldn't call her gothed out, but she was definitely wild."
Spc Bragg's awards and decorations include:
Army Commendation Medal
Good Conduct Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Afghanistan Campaign Medal
War on Terrorism Service Medal
Army Spc. Mikayla A. Bragg was killed in action on 12/21/11.
No comments:
Post a Comment