| 7/12/2007 9:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| USAF Master Sgt. Randy J. Gillespie |
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Cotopaxi grad dies in Afghanistan
U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Randy J. Gillespie, 44, formally of Coaldale, died Monday in Herat, Afghanistan, U.S. Department of Defense officials reported Wednesday.
Gillespie died of wounds received as a result of small arms fire outside Camp Stone, forward operating base near Herat. The camp is approximately 300 miles west of Bagram Airfield.
Gillespie was deployed to Afghanistan with the 755th Air Expeditionary Group in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and was training the new Afgan national army, defense department officials said.
Gillespie was assigned to the 56th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Luke Air Force Base west of Phoenix, Ariz. He graduated from Cotopaxi High School.
His wife and four children live in the Phoenix area and his father, Edwin, lives in Coaldale.
Randy is the youngest of three brothers. Edwin served in Korea, family members said, and Randy was in his second duty tour in Afghanistan.
Details of funeral services are unknown.
Richard and Sharon Clifton live near Randy's father in Coaldale. Richard and Edwin Gillespie are first cousins.
"He (Randy) was more fun. We knew him from the time he was born," Sharon Clifton said Wednesday. "I look back with a lot of fond memories about him."
The two families lived close to each other in Colorado Springs before the Gillespies moved to Coaldale in the mid-1970s.
"(Randy's) biggest thrill was looking like his grandpa Bob," Sharon Clifton said. "The kids would say, 'Look like grandpa Bob,' and he would pull his shirt up and stick his plump little belly out."
The Cliftons moved to Coaldale about 1979. When Randy returned he would stop at the Clifton home and visit.
"He was one of our relations and made it a point to come up and visit," Sharon Clifton said.
"He was very, very serious about being in the service. He felt he was doing his duty," Sharon Clifton said. "It was quite a shock when we heard that he was gone Monday."
First cousin Russ Gillespie lives in Coaldale and called Randy "probably the bravest one of us all. He loved his family, kids, and he just loved everybody. He loved his country and the American way of life and he wasn't afraid to die for it."
When Randy was in Coaldale last summer, the two visited about his time in Afghanistan.
"Mostly he talked about how he had found Lord Jesus Christ to be his savior and how his faith was allowing him to be the best and bravest solider he could be."
Fighter Country Partnership, a community support organization for men and women of Luke Air Force Base, is establishing a sub-account for the Gillespie Family under the Arizona Servicemen Memorial Fund - a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation.
For more FCP information contact Steve Yamamori at (623) 882-2191, or 500 North Estrella Parkway, Suite B2, PMB #479, Goodyear, AZ 85338 or by e-mail, syamamori@fightercountry.org.
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