Charles Dusty Parrish
Profile
Age: 23
From: Jasper, Ala.
Assigned to the 5th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
Incident: Army Spc. Charles ‘Dusty’ Parrish died June 4 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered earlier that day in Jalula, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by an anti-tank grenade.
Died: June 04, 2009
Was 1 month short of returning home
The Associated Press
JASPER, Ala. — A 23-year-old soldier from Jasper died in rocket-propelled grenade attack in northern Iraq, just about a month shy of his expected return from Iraq next month, his mother said.
Spc. Dusty Parrish died June 4 during a reconnaissance mission to clear land mines, said his mother, Tina Rigsby.
Rigsby said her son was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and had recently re-enlisted. She said he had been in Iraq for 14 months and was to be stationed in Columbus, Ga., after his expected return from Iraq on July 15.
His homecoming was eagerly anticipated by his wife, Ashley, and his 4-year-old son Caden, Rigsby said.
An Army medic, Parrish trained many of the medics who assisted in his surgery after the attack, his mother said.
“They said he gave a good fight,” she said.
Parrish graduated from Walker County...