Army Sgt. Glenn Sewell, 23, of Live Oak, Texas
Sgt Sewell was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died June 13, 2011 of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Wasit province, Iraq. Also killed was Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas P. Bellard.
A soldier from Live Oak was one of two GIs killed this week in Iraq when their armored vehicle was caught in the explosion of a roadside bomb.
Word spread quickly Wednesday among those close to Sgt. Glenn Sewell. Some ran snapshots on their Facebook pages. Others put his image in place of their own photos on the social networking site.
A photo on one site depicted a U.S. flag at half-staff in honor of Sewell, whom relatives described as happy, quick with a joke and the life of the party, a confident GI who loved being a soldier but also looked forward to starting his own family.
“He was a great man; he was a warrior,” said his father, Mike Sewell, 49, of Spring Branch. “He was a man among men, fearless.”
A 2006 Judson High School graduate, Sewell was 23. Another GI who died with him, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bellard, 26, called El Paso home.
Serving in Fort Hood's 1st Cavalry Division, they were killed in Wasit province, in eastern Iraq.
“Just lost some of my buddies that was in my unit (6-9 CAV, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cav division) with me yesterday, please play for their families,” a soldier wrote on the Texas Gun Talk website.
“It is my solemn and sad duty to inform you that on Monday evening, 13 June 2011 the squadron lost Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bellard, a native of Louisiana and Sgt. Glenn Sewell, a native of San Antonio,” Lt. Col. Cameron Cantlon, the squadron commander, said in the same message.
“Both Staff Sgt. Bellard and Sgt. Sewell served their nation with distinction,” Cantlon continued. “We will honor their lives, service and sacrifice with memorial ceremonies both here in Iraq and also at Fort Hood.”
Sewell was a veteran of Afghanistan. A cousin, Jennalee Freeman, 27, of Universal City, said he “was guts and glory, he was all about being a soldier. There was no other job for him, going out there patrolling and catching the bad guy.”
A guitarist and member of the Judson High band, he was known for yarns and a sense of humor. It showed in a Christmas message from Kabul in 2008 when he told his mom, “I know the mustache looks terrible, but it will be gone by the time I get home.”
Relatives said he was excited about going to the war zone again and didn't worry as he left for Iraq in early February. . Soon enough, he grew restless.
“Last time I talked to him, he was very bored,” his father said. “There was nothing going on and he was looking forward to getting back.”
But violence is on the uptick in Iraq amid turmoil in the government and uncertainty over a possible extension of the American presence there. Ten GIs have been killed since May 22, nearly a third of this year's total.
Sewell and Bellard were the first Americans to die in Wasit, on the border with Iran, this year. Their deaths bring the U.S. casualty count in Iraq to 4,462.
“I remember asking why he wanted to go back after already serving one tour in Afghanistan, and he said that he needed to go back and help his friends,” an aunt, Pat Barrett, 53, of San Antonio said in an email. “The strange thing is that we were afraid for him, but after talking with him ... he totally calmed any fear we had because he was going to be OK.”
A cousin, Sean Sewell, 24, of Schertz said his confidence “almost took the fear out of all of us.” But Freeman, a stay-at-home mother, said Sewell posted a comment on Facebook about 10 days ago, citing a quote from writer Hunter Thompson.
“It was just very eerie that he would put it on just before everything happened,” she said. “It's a quote, ‘Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming, “Wow! What a ride!”' And that was him, to a T.”
Army Sgt. Glenn Sewell was killed in action on 6/13/11.
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