Staff Sgt. Jonathan W. Dean, 25, of Henagar, Alabama, was a 2001 graduate of Valley Head School, where he played baseball and was a linebacker on the football team. Jonathan worked at the Earthgrains bakery plant in Fort Payne, Alabama, until it closed four years ago. Because jobs were scarce, he decided to enter the Army in September of 2004. He arrived at Fort Campbell Kentucky in March 2005, and was a military policeman assigned to the 561st Military Police Company, 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). He previously served one tour in Afghanistan and deployed to Iraq in April. His awards and decorations include: Army Commendation Medal; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign with combat service; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officers Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Air Assault Badge; Driver and Mechanic Badge with Driver-Wheeled Vehicles and Weapons Qualification: M4-rifle, expert. He died December 20, in Bayji, Iraq, of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident in Tikrit, Iraq. Jonathan's family had just dropped him off at the airport to return to Iraq on December 14 and he had only been in Iraq three days before his death. Dean and his wife, Staff Sgt. Anne M. Dore, were married on December 6 in Alabama while they were home on leave. They had met at Fort Campbell two years earlier and both found military life to their liking and had both recently re-enlisted. He is survived by his wife, Staff Sgt. Anne M. Dore, currently deployed to Iraq; son, Tyler Dean, of Boaz; father and step-mother, David and Pam Dean, of Valley Head; mother, Delaine Dean, of Henagar; brothers, Jason (Holli) Dean, of Wildwood, Ga., Zackery Dean, of Valley Head; sister, Kaitlyn Dean, of Valley Head; special brother, Phillip Williams, of Sulpher Springs; father and mother-in-law, Michael and Alice Dore', of Medina, Ohio; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Tyler and Lisa Sauer, of Perryville, Mo.; grandparents, John and Edith Dean, of Valley Head, James and Dianne Sargent, of Henagar, Calvin and Myra Lanier, of Rainsville and Robert Siegmyer, of Medina, Ohio; several aunts and uncles; and many loving cousins and dear friends.
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place of birth from member 49956230 I did not verify this.