27, of Canton, Ohio; assigned to the 703rd Ordnance Company, Fort Knox, Ky., supporting the 82nd Airborne Division; killed Feb. 8 when an improvised explosive device detonated in Mahmudiyah, Iraq.

Ohio soldier killed in Iraq was nearing stateside assignment

Associated Press

 

CANTON, Ohio — When an Ohio soldier killed in Iraq was once asked as a third grader what he wanted to do when he grew up, he wrote to his teacher: “I’ll go to war and fight.”

“The teacher called and was a little alarmed and I said, ‘No, that’s my son,”’ recalled the mother of Army Staff Sgt. Richard Ramey, Julie Ramey.

 

         Ramey, 27, of Canton, was killed Feb. 8 in an attack in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, 20 miles south of Baghdad as insurgents attacked separate Army convoys with explosives, the Pentagon said. Three other soldiers were wounded. He was assigned to the 703rd Ordnance Company out of Fort Knox, Ky., and was supporting the work of the 82nd Airborne Division, the Pentagon said.

 

         Ramey was the 20th Ohioan killed in the war. He served in the Army for 8½ years. He was sent to Iraq in September and was looking forward to an assignment in Alaska beginning in late March, said his father, Jerry Ramey. Photos of Ramey in his uniform and of his 1995 graduation hung on a wall and a mantle of the Rameys’ home. Next to it was a graduation photo of his younger sister, Sarah. “It’s going to be tough, but we’ll get through it,” Jerry Ramey said. Julia Ramey said she and her husband were proud of his service.  “Richard loved to do his job. No matter where it would take him,” she said. “He really felt deeply that he wanted to protect people that couldn’t protect themselves.” In a statement released through Fort Knox, the family said, “He was adventurous and smart, combining both qualities in what he did for the Army. We knew his work was dangerous but also knew he wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else.”

          

          Ramey graduated in 1995 from suburban Perry High School, according to Mark H. Dean, principal of the 1,200-student school. The school likely will honor Ramey by hanging a memorial plaque with his photograph, Dean said. Bob Kilpatrick, who had Ramey in his English class, said Ramey was “a solid kid who worked hard and tried to do as much as he could right.”

         He said the Perry faculty learned about Ramey’s death on Feb. 9. “It was a sad, sad day. It just made the rest of the day kind of sad,” he said. Ramey played offensive guard with the Perry football team and was a teammate of Kilpatrick’s son. Ramey looked forward to his military service, according to Kilpatrick, “not to get his college paid for. He actually wanted to serve.”

 

A Feb. 12 memorial service for Ramey was scheduled in the Main Post Chapel at Fort Knox.

Ramey was the second soldier from the 703rd killed in Iraq, according to Connie Shaffery, a Fort Knox spokeswoman.