Pfc. Ryan J. Grady, 25, of Bristow was killed Thursday in Bagram, Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced Saturday.
Pfc. Ryan J. Grady, 25, of Bristow was killed Thursday in Bagram, Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced Saturday.
A decorated Oklahoma soldier who was killed last week in Afghanistan was remembered Saturday for his love of his family and his country.
Pfc. Ryan J. Grady, 25, formerly of Bristow, was killed Thursday when the military vehicle he was in was struck by an improvised explosive device near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, the Department of the Defense announced Saturday.
Grady of West Burke, Vt., was a combat engineer with the Vermont National Guard’s 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain).
The Purple Heart recipient died hours after having breakfast with one of his brothers, 27-year-old Kevin Grady, who was also with the Vermont National Guard in Afghanistan.
“He was complaining (to Kevin) that he didn’t get to see any action,” said Ryan Grady’s other brother, James Grady, 31, of Muskogee. “He was kind of upset about it.”
All three Grady brothers served in the military, as did their father, James A. Grady of West Burke.
“My dad is not doing very well,” James Grady said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever heard him cry.”
Ryan Grady attended Bristow High School and joined the Army in 2003.
He received a Purple Heart for injuries he sustained while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom during 2005 and 2006.
“He had an IED hit his vehicle and he got some shrapnel,” James Grady said.
He joined the Vermont National Guard in late 2006 before transferring to the Oklahoma National Guard in 2008.
James Grady said his brother Ryan returned to the Vermont National Guard in
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2009 in part because he heard units from there would be going to Afghanistan.
“We grew up in a military family and we had high standards for being the best soldiers we could be,” said James Grady.
Ryan Grady’s step-father, Tom Hudacek of Bristow, said Grady was more than a good soldier. “He was a very caring, loving father,” Hudacek said.
And a good brother, according to James Grady.
“We were normal brothers,” he said. “We’d fight and after we’d get done we’d hug each other and keep on going.”
Ryan Grady died just before his favorite holiday — the Fourth of July.
“He’d launch off a lot of fireworks, that was his favorite thing,” said James Brady.
The state of Vermont has posthumously promoted Grady to the rank of specialist.
“Spc. Grady has made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of a nation that he both loved and served as a member of the Vermont National Guard,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, Vermont’s adjutant general.
In addition to his father, step-father and brothers, Ryan Grady is survived by his mother, Debbie Hudacek of Bristow; his wife, Heaven, of Bristow; and his daughter, Alexis, of West Burke, Vt.
James Grady said his brother would be buried in St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Services are pending.
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