Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Sean D. Diamond, Army, Staff Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Sean D. Diamond, 41

Army, Staff Sergeant
Based: Ft. Lewis, Wash.
610th Engineer Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: February 15, 2009
As Salam, Iraq
Married, 4 children
Gender: Male
Hometown: Dublin
Burial: Cremated
Every March 17, Sally Wiley would call her son Sean Diamond at 7:38 a.m. and his twin Michael Diamond five minutes later -- the moments of their births -- to sing them "Happy Birthday."

Some years, the twins couldn't answer, letting their mother's song go to voice mail.

In the last few years, when Sean, an Army staff sergeant, was stationed in Iraq, Wiley couldn't call him. Instead, she would look at the clock on March 17 and feel something missing and then call Michael.

"We'd laugh because [Sean] didn't have to get the early morning call," she said of the ritual that began during the twins' first year at college.

On Tuesday, Wiley still made two calls, but both to Michael -- one to his home and the other to his cellphone.

Sean was killed Feb. 15 when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in As Salam, , south of Baghdad. He was a heavy equipment operator with the 610th Engineer Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade at Ft. Lewis, Wash. He was 41.
 Read the entire LA Times story about Army Staff Sergeant Sean D. Diamond here.
Sean D. Diamond  is survived by his mother and stepfather, Michael; wife Loramay and their four children, Taylor, Madison, Sean Riley and Athena; his twin brother Michael; brother Jason and father Jerry.
Find more about Staff Sergeant Diamond in the Record Courier, at Military Times, and at the Iraq Page.

Read the Army story about the new base to be named for Sean D. Diamond

Specialist James Saunders stands by the sign he built honoring his former squad leader, Staff Sgt. Sean D. Diamond.

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