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Military casualties hit home Date published: 7/23/2008
BY ELLEN BILTZ
Army Pfc. Luke J. Brown loved life and loved people, his older brother Paul Brown said yesterday. "He could always pick me up when I was down," he said. Luke Brown, a 27-year-old soldier from Spotsylvania County, was found dead Sunday morning at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he was stationed. Brown was one of two servicemen with links to the Fredericksburg area to die in the past week. Marine First Lt. Jason Mann was killed when a roof collapsed on him Thursday in Afghanistan. Brown, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, joined the Army in January 2007. His brother said yesterday that Brown always joked about his size as a paratrooper: he was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds. "He would say he was always the last one out of the plane and the first one down,'" Paul Brown said. "He could always make a joke." Luke Brown grew up in Spotsylvania and was home-schooled, but was very active in his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He attended Germanna Community College before he enlisted, Paul Brown said. He said his family--Brown had four brothers and a sister who all live in the Fredericksburg area, along with his parents--is still waiting to learn the cause of death, but so far, they believe it was accidental. Chris Grey, director of public affairs for the Criminal Investigations Command, said Brown was found dead in a vehicle in a parking lot. He said an autopsy is under way by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Grey said the Army Luke Brown had never been deployed overseas. The other local serviceman who died last week was on a tour in Afghanistan. Mann, 29, died in the Helmand province of Afghanistan when a roof collapsed on him, according to the Marine Corps. The incident is being called non-hostile. According to the Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Mann was assigned to a Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unity. He was deployed in support of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Mann was previously an Arab linguist and a reconnaissance Marine, said a release regarding his death. According to Mann's obituary, he left behind many family members, including his wife, Shannon, and a 2-year-old daughter in Stafford. Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
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