Micah S. Gifford, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Micah S. Gifford, 27

Army, Specialist

Based: Ft. Richardson, Alaska

3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division

Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom

Died: December 7, 2006

Baghdad (south of), Iraq

Single

Gender: Male

Hometown: Redding
High School: South High (Torrance)
Burial: Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego

The Department of Defense announced [December 10, 2006] the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their unit while on patrol during combat operations in Baghdad, Iraq, on December 7, 2006. Both soldiers were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Killed were:

Staff Sergeant Henry W. Linck, 23, of Manhattan, Kansas

Spcecialist Micah S. Gifford, 27, of Redding, Califofrnia

"Don't pray that I come home soon," Micah S. Gifford wrote to friends on his MySpace.com page shortly after his Army unit was deployed in Iraq. "Pray that the people that are causing us to stay out there can see the light and change their ways without harm coming to them first."


Then, in character, the 27-year-old preacher's son with a prankster's heart outlined the retribution he could deliver: "All I gotta do is flex and their brains will explode out of sheer amazement, so again ... don't worry about me."

But Gifford's moxie, Christian faith and cheeky humor could not protect him from a roadside bomb that exploded near his unit while on patrol Dec. 7 in Baghdad. Gifford, an Army corporal who grew up in Torrance and most recently lived in Northern California, and a fellow soldier were killed.

Gifford was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Ft. Richardson, Alaska.

Gifford had not originally planned to go into the military. Born in San Diego, he spent his teenage years in Torrance when his father, Dale, was the minister of Hermosa Beach Church of Christ. Gifford then attended Harding University, a Christian college in Searcy, Arkansas.

Read the whole LA Times article about Army Specialist Micah Stephen Gifford here and find more here.
Specialist Gifford's MySpace page.