Army Staff Sgt. Thomas K. Fogarty

Remember Our Heroes

Army Staff Sgt. Thomas K. Fogarty, 30, of Alameda, Calif.

SSgt Fogarty was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; died May 6, 2012 in Puli Alam, Afghanistan, from injuries caused by an improvised explosive device.

"Tommy," as many people knew him, leaves behind his parents, his wife, and two young children, one 2-years-old and one 5-years-old according to family friends. The Defense Department says the paratrooper was killed in Ahmad Kheyl, Afghanistan when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device or IED.

He was a graduate of Alameda High School, Class of 2000. Margie Sherratt was his counselor at Alameda High when he was a freshman and sophomore. She's now president of the Alameda Board of Education. "I would want his family to know that as the education community, we are very proud of him and he did for us for our country," she said.

Sherratt says she found out about Fogarty's death at the nearby Safeway where his mother worked for 22 years. Many employees there watched him grow up. "This is a tragedy and from the bottom of all of our Safeway employees hearts, our hearts go out to them, and we just send our love and our prayers. And anything we can do, feel free to let us know," Trina Carr said.

"My sons were young and I also lost my wife young, but he would always ask me how my family was doing and how my boys were doing. Every time I saw him, he was always concerned about me and my kids," Philip Davis recalled.

Fogarty is described as non-selfish and independent. Friends say he was on his third or fourth tour in Afghanistan and that if he had made it home, he would have soon been leaving the military.

The Alameda High School graduate was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal, which recognizes heroic service or meritorious achievement. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Army Staff Sgt. Thomas K. Fogarty was killed in action on 5/6/12.