Army Pfc. Lionel Ayro, 22, of Jeanerette, La.; assigned to 73rd Engineer Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.; killed Dec. 21 when his base dining facility was attacked in Mosul, Iraq. Pfc. Ayro joined the Army in November of 2002 in hopes of going to college and starting his own trucking business. The oldest of three children, he had been fascinated by 18-wheelers since he was a child. He even had a prized collection of toy trucks. He would wait for the sugar cane truck to come to the sugar mill to bring sugar cane and catch a ride to the field and work until 7 pm. He was everything a mother would want in a son. He was respectable and helpful. Anything you would ask him to do, he did it. Lionel was hard-working, too. He'd go to school, come home, work in the fields, then go mow the yard, take out the trash and clean the house. In addition to all that, he would even find time to study. Lionel even took it upon himself to keep up the graves of his nanny, Nelly Mae Doucet, great-grandmother, Lilly Mae Ayro, and aunt, Christine Defils. Those were three people he loved dearly. He made sure those graves were cleaned off and kept up and would stay 15 or 20 minutes praying over them. Lionel was killed in an Army mess hall near Mosul by a suicide bomber at age 22.
Army
73rd Engineer Company
1st Brigade
25th Infantry Division
(Stryker Brigade Combat Team)
Fort Lewis, Washington
Army
73rd Engineer Company
1st Brigade
25th Infantry Division
(Stryker Brigade Combat Team)
Fort Lewis, Washington
Army Pfc. Lionel Ayro, 22, of Jeanerette, La.; assigned to 73rd Engineer Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.; killed Dec. 21 when his base dining facility was attacked in Mosul, Iraq. Pfc. Ayro joined the Army in November of 2002 in hopes of going to college and starting his own trucking business. The oldest of three children, he had been fascinated by 18-wheelers since he was a child. He even had a prized collection of toy trucks. He would wait for the sugar cane truck to come to the sugar mill to bring sugar cane and catch a ride to the field and work until 7 pm. He was everything a mother would want in a son. He was respectable and helpful. Anything you would ask him to do, he did it. Lionel was hard-working, too. He'd go to school, come home, work in the fields, then go mow the yard, take out the trash and clean the house. In addition to all that, he would even find time to study. Lionel even took it upon himself to keep up the graves of his nanny, Nelly Mae Doucet, great-grandmother, Lilly Mae Ayro, and aunt, Christine Defils. Those were three people he loved dearly. He made sure those graves were cleaned off and kept up and would stay 15 or 20 minutes praying over them. Lionel was killed in an Army mess hall near Mosul by a suicide bomber at age 22.
Army
73rd Engineer Company
1st Brigade
25th Infantry Division
(Stryker Brigade Combat Team)
Fort Lewis, Washington
Army
73rd Engineer Company
1st Brigade
25th Infantry Division
(Stryker Brigade Combat Team)
Fort Lewis, Washington
