MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The soldier who gave up his Major’s rank to deploy as a Special Forces medic was laid to rest on a hillside in the Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery here Jan 20.
Florida Army National Guard Sgt. Roy A. Wood, 47, was killed when the vehicle he was riding in crashed outside of Kabul, Afghanistan.
Wood, a University of Miami Medical School graduate, worked as an emergency room surgeon at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, Fla. before his unit was mobilized for Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003.
He is the first Florida National Guardsmen killed in Afghanistan and fourth Florida Guardsman killed since the Global War on Terror started on Sept. 11, 2001.
More than 150 friends and family gathered on a blustery January afternoon in central Georgia to pay homage to a man they said sacrificed so much for those he cared about.
"He was self-effacing, loyal, compassionate, he was totally intolerant of ineptitude and totally intolerant of people being mistreated," said Brightman Logan, Wood’s former college roommate and 25-year friend.
Described as tenacious, dedicated and passionate about his work, Wood not only put himself through medical school – even living in a tent in Grenada for two years while in school – he also went through the Army’s toughest schools including Airborne, Ranger and Special Forces.
"Roy not only had a passion about his military mission but his medical mission as well," said Sgt. 1st Class Mark Muniz, who served with Wood in Afghanistan. "He never ceased to amaze us on how far he would go to accomplish a mission."
Muniz added that many times Wood bought medical supplies with his own money and some times was the only doctor some Afghanis have ever seen.
A Special Forces soldier stands near Sgt. Wood's casket during the funeral on Jan. 20.
Wood even had friends send toys over to Afghanistan for the children he met – to help in any small way to bring stability to that war-ravaged country.
"Because of his medical assistance, people he treated would come in and tells us where improvised explosive devices were hidden," Muniz said.
His actions saved his team members lives, he said.
In addition to his work in Special Forces recovering weapons caches, surveillance and reconnaissance, he volunteered to help set up clinics for the people of Afghanistan.
He finished one clinic and was working on another.
His work is now the model for other clinics that will be built in Afghanistan said Brig. Gen. David J. Burford, Deputy Commander, U.S. Army Special Forces Command from Fort Bragg, N.C.
During the funeral service Wood’s family was presented with the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal and Florida Cross. The American flag draped across the wood coffin placed at the front of the chapel was folded and presented to Hana Wood – his wife.
"In a unit of the elite," said Sgt. 1st Class John Fiorino, who served with Wood in Afghanistan. "Roy stuck out above the rest."
Currently there are more than 3,000 soldiers and airmen from the Florida National Guard serving on active duty at home and abroad.
http://www.floridaguard.net/news/read.asp?did=2558
Linear Mode
