Maryland's Tenth Hero

bryannspry
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Army Pvt. Bryan Nicholas Spry, 19, of Chestertown, Md.; assigned to D Comany, 1st Battalion, 504th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed Feb. 13 when his vehicle rolled into a water-filled ditch in Baghdad.

HIS MOTHER SPEAKS OF HER SON

Beverly Fabri made sure that her son, Pvt. Bryan Nicholas Spry, called her three times a week from Baghdad. She gave him a phone calling card and kept adding minutes to it.

Spry, whose family called Nicholas, was always happy to talk with his mom. They last talked for about 20 minutes Thursday, the day before he was killed when his vehicle rolled into a water-filled ditch.

Spry, 19, had only been in the military since he graduated last spring from Kent County High School. Since he arrived in Iraq in January, he’d been injured twice, his mother said.

“He always seemed to cling to military people,” Fabri said. He spent hours in high school with two teachers who had served in the military. His maternal grandfather served at Guadalcanal in World War II and received a Silver Star, which Spry always carried with him.

Fabri said Spry grew up in the shadow of his older, more athletic brother, but was always proud and supportive of him.

Nicholas suffered from an attention deficit problem, so he and his mother spent hours each week working together on his school work, Fabri said.

[S]he said support from the community has been overwhelming. “There has been such an outpouring of love — gifts, flowers, food,” she said. Within hours after she was notified of her son’s death, “everyone who graduated with Nicholas all jumped in their cars and they were here.”