SGT RODNEY A. MURRAY
351st Military Police Company

Army Sgt. Rodney A. Murray, Age 28, of Ayden, North Carolina
Assigned to the 351st Military Police Company, Army Reserve, Ocala, Florida
Killed May 9, 2004 when a Bradley Fighting Vehicle and his military vehicle collided between Baghdad and Scania, Iraq.
(www.militarycity.com)



Family and friends remember N.C. soldier who died in Iraq
(Associated Press)

RALEIGH, N.C. — Family and friends of a soldier who was killed in Iraq on Mother’s Day said the man loved adventure and was a solid guy.

Stella Murray said her son, Sgt. Rodney Murray, called her from Iraq on May 9 and sounded upbeat.

Murray, 28, was killed that night when his Humvee collided with a Bradley Fighting Vehicle between Baghdad and Scania, south of the city, the Department of Defense said. He served in the Army Reserve’s 351st Military Police Company based in Ocala, Fla.

Murray’s mother said he was ejected in the collision and died of a broken neck.

“Rodney touched a lot of lives, all for the better,” Stella Murray said. “The world lost a lot.”

Murray grew up in Hopkins, N.C., in a white double-wide with blue shutters. He attended East Wake High School, where he played football and graduated in 1994.

Murray made the varsity his junior and senior year, said former East Wake football coach Robin “Turk” Dedrick. He remembered Murray for his dedication.

“He was first class all the way,” Dedrick said. “He was dependable, he didn’t miss practice and was a solid guy. He was that way in school, too.”

Murray was small, but the lineman was always willing to fill in wherever his team needed him, Dedrick said.

Stella Murray said her son thought enlisting would be good for him.

“He just decided to do this just to try to further himself,” she said. “He loved adventure, too.”

Murray graduated from East Carolina University in December 2002 with a double major in English and physical education. He wanted to teach. Six weeks later, on Feb. 12, he started work as a teacher of history and English at Ayden-Grifton High School in Ayden, N.C. He lived with his wife of three years, Amanda.

On the same day he started work, he got notice that he would be deployed. He left on Valentine’s Day.

After several months preparing in Georgia, Murray left for Iraq last May. He had been due to come home this month, but the military extended his stay through September, his mother said.

Mary E. Hopkins, of Zebulon, used to rent to the Murray family. Hopkins and her husband used to grow tobacco, and Rodney Murray would help during the harvest.

“He was a good worker,” she said, “a good Christian boy.”

The family now rents a trailer lot from Faye Pearce. They’ve lived on the same road since before Rodney Murray was born. Pearce said Rodney Murray was handsome and loved his country.

“He was willing to go there and fight,” she said. “He was never mischievous like some of these young people are, and he had his mind focused on where he was going.”

The family has gotten no word on when Murray’s body will come home and has made no funeral arrangements.

Murray gave his mother a dogwood tree two years ago. She planted it in her front yard and it grew and blossomed white last year, then dappled with pink this year.

In her last letter, Stella Murray wrote to tell her son of the hybrid blooms.

“I doubt he ever got that letter,” she said.



Ayden man killed in Iraq
(The Daily Reflector)
By Stanley B. Chambers Jr. and Latisha Gray


When U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Rodney A. Murray talked to his wife Sunday, his thoughts were of the three children they wanted to have together.

"His last words to me were, ‘Happy future Mother's Day,’ because we were looking forward to starting a family," his 25-year-old wife, Amanda, said.

Murray, a 28-year-old Ayden man who was a coach at Ayden-Grifton High School and was hired as a teacher at the school in 2003, was killed in Iraq on Sunday in a vehicle crash between Baghdad and Scania. He served with the 351st Military Police Company based in Ocala, Fla., and his family was notified of his death Monday. The military released word of his death to the public Tuesday.

At the Ayden home of Murrays' in-laws Tuesday, a picture of him in his service uniform sat on a living room mantle near the television. In the kitchen, friends were flipping through a photo album and sharing memories of Murray.

Family and friends came and left the home, giving their condolences to Amanda and hugging the young military widow.

A native of Zebulon, Murray moved to Ayden in 1994 and met his future wife five years later through a blind date set up by one of his coaching friends. The pair soon realized they shared a birthday — Dec. 8 — and Amanda said she knew it was love at first sight.

The pair were engaged on April's Fools Day 2001 and married on Dec. 16 of that same year.

To help pay for school, Murray joined the Army Reserve in July 2000, always thinking that one day he would be called to active duty.

"When Sept. 11 happened — from then he knew he might be called," his wife said.

Murray was called up. He got the word in a 5 a.m. phone call in February 2003.

"I got up and followed him," Amanda said. "When he got off the phone, he was crying. He just cried. We both cried together."

Murray left for active duty on Valentine's Day, and the couple kept in contact through telephone, e-mail and written letters. He came home for two weeks in December, just in time for the couple's two-year anniversary.

Murray left home for the last time on Dec. 30, 2003.

On Monday, Amanda thought she had indigestion while working as a cashier at Pitt Community College. She was surprised when her father showed up, originally thinking he was there to tell her about a family member who was sick.

But when she saw two U.S. Army chaplains inside an empty classroom, she realized it was something far worse.

"I guess heartache had set in, and I didn't even know it," she said.

Those who talked about Murray on Tuesday spoke of his quiet and respectful manor — how he never spoke a bad word and was always there for his players as an Ayden-Grifton coach.

In an Oct. 29, 2003, letter, Murray shared some feelings about Iraq with Robbie Rouse, who worked with Murray at Ayden-Grifton.

"I've seen all that I want to see here, and I'm ready to come home where I belong," the letter read. "But I take comfort in the fact that I know God has a reason for having me here now. I believe that, and I put my trust in Him."

Rouse said Murray was very spiritual and often led Bible study groups in Iraq and shared his religious experiences with fellow soldiers.

"The saddest part about this is we don't even truly realize what we lost," Rouse said.

Those who worked with Murray at Ayden-Grifton described him as a person born to work with young athletes.

Murray began coaching at the school in 2000 after his football coach at East Wake High School in Wendell told him how the football program needed volunteer assistants, Charger head football coach B.T. Chappell said. Murray helped out with the junior varsity football squad and the junior varsity girls basketball team before eventually becoming head track coach.

In a letter sent nearly three months ago, Murray spoke of looking forward to coaching again, Chappell said.

"He was a real quiet young man," Chappell said. "He was real reserved, very polite, mild-mannered. He wasn't really loud, never said a curse word or raised his voice. He was always a gentleman and under control, always had a smile about him."

His coaching style mirrored his personality, Chappell said — Murray was patient with his players and loved coaching.

"He was real calm, which is a good quality, especially if you're trying to coach," Chappell said.

While at Ayden-Grifton, Murray gave his players rides home from practice and made sure they were fed when they traveled, said Franco Simpkins, who worked with Murray as a junior varsity football coach.

Simpkins' younger brother, who played under Murray, called him Monday night in tears. He said the news of Murray's death "sent chills up his back."

"I think God takes the good ones," Simpkins said. "I think the good ones go first, and he's a hero in my eyes. He's what America is all about, helping your fellow man, being there for a friend and fighting for what he believed in. That's the way I see it."

Murray graduated from East Carolina University in December 2002 with a degree in physical education and English and was hired at the end of January 2003 as a remedial English teacher working with freshmen at Ayden-Grifton, said former Principal Bruce Gray, now the principal at W.H. Robinson in Winterville.

Murray had been a Pitt County Schools employee for just two days when he was called to active duty.

"It's just a tragedy; it's such a loss," Gray said. "He was very quiet but an assertive and confident young man. He loved working with kids and wanted to be a teacher very much."

The children Murray worked with on the field also respected him, said Kathy Frazier, athletics director at Ayden-Grifton.

"It's more of a feeling of disbelief," she said of his death. "It's hard to grasp the concept of him not being here and not coming back home. It makes (war) more of a reality when it hits home like that."

While in Iraq, Murray asked his fellow congregation members at Rose Free Will Baptist Church to donate toys to Iraqi children, Ayden Mayor Steve Tripp said.

"He wanted to show them how America truly was a giving nation," said Tripp, whose daughter played on one of the girls basketball teams coached by Murray.

The church sent 12 boxes filled with gifts, but Murray already had been moved to another location by the time they arrived. Tripp said church pastor Leon Harris told him the toys were put into storage and were to be distributed by the Army per Murray's wishes.

"Our church people supported him," Tripp said. "We had prayer every Sunday for the soldiers over there, including him."

The church will hold a special service for Murray's family tonight at 7.

Tripp also said Murray's pastor relayed e-mail messages the young soldier sent while in Iraq. Murray wrote that the American soldiers he saw were not the soldiers being shown by the media. He saw American soldiers going to schools during their free time and doing repairs.

"He was disheartened because the betrayal that's being relayed back to America was not what he was seeing," Tripp said, referring to the controversy about American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.

Tripp said Murray felt that he had a calling to represent his country.

"He wanted to be an ambassador from America to Iraq," Tripp said.



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