Savannah Soldier, Sgt. Vernon W. Martin, Killed In Afghanistan

The remains of six soldiers were returned to a Delaware military base Tuesday. Among them, Sgt. Vernon W. Martin of Savannah.
Martin was one of eight soldiers killed this past weekend during a fire fight in Afghanistan. It’s considered the deadliest assault on U.S. Troops in more than a year.
Family members of the soldiers looked on as the flag-draped transfer cases containing their bodies were removed from a military plane at Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base.
The Denver Post reports a conversation with Martin’s wife, Brittany, 23-years old. “I can’t put it into words; he was the best thing that ever happened to me and my kids”. According to the Denver Post report, Martin loved loved being with his three small children and hoped to work in a youth development program when he left the Army.
He and Brittany Martin’s children are 2, 4 and 6 years old.
Mrs. Martin also told the Denver Post about when he joined the Army six years ago, “He was working job to job. I think he just wanted to do it for us, as a better way to provide for us.”
According to Mrs. Martin, he had already served one tour of duty in Iraq and wasn’t happy when his unit shipped out to Afghanistan. She said, “He didn’t really feel comfortable with it.
She also told the Denver Post that she talked with him by phone the night before he was killed saying, “We just had a regular, old conversation.”
KRDO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs, Co., published an e-mail they report Sgt. Martin send a week before the fire fight in which he died. He said things were pretty rough there for a while but seemed to be improving.

In the fire fight, NBC News reported more than a hundred enemy forces firing heavy machine guns, rpg’s, and rockets from the surrounding mountains, a police station and a mosque. While fifty Americans and 90 Afghan soldiers fought back against the barrage, it wasn’t enough to stop the casualties.
U.S. military officials believe insurgents spent nearly a month secretly preparing for the battle, prepositioning weapons and ammunition high in the mountains, long before the first shot was fired.
The other five soldiers returned to Dover, Delaware Tuesday and who are identified are: Sgt. Joshua J. Kirk of South Portland, Maine; Spec. Michael P. Scusa of Villas, N.J.; Spec. Christopher T. Griffin of Kincheloe, Mich.; Pfc. Kevin C. Thomson of Reno, Nev.; and Spec. Stephen L. Mace of Lovettsville, Va.