Specialist Thomas Byrd, 21 of Cochise, Ariz. was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga. He was killed October 15, 2005, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq. He was one of five that died in the explosion.

Tommy was a 2003 graduate of Santa Rita High School where he was on the Varsity Wrestling Team for three years. He proudly entered the Army in November of that year.

“I thought he was going to come home, and we would grow old together,” said his wife of 18 months, Mykel. When he left for Iraq on his first deployment, “he went believing that he was going to make a difference,” she said. “He wanted to give the (Iraqi) people the same freedoms we have. He always put other people before himself. He had a huge heart of gold.”

“I am so proud of my son. I am just bursting with pride,” his mother, Julia Byrd said. “After 911 he felt very strongly about what he was going to do. He wanted to be part of the solution. He believed in what he was doing.”