Hesperian killed in Afghanistan laid to rest

Army Sgt. James K. Healy was laid to rest in a quiet ceremony on Thursday.

Healy, 25, was a 2000 Hesperia High School graduate and a member of the 703rd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment based out of Fort Knox, Kentucky.

The 703rd locates, recovers and dismantles improved explosive devices (IEDs), similar to the bomb squad of a metropolitan police department. Healy died from injuries from an IED blast, when the Humvee he was in triggered a concealed roadside bomb while on his way to disable an IED in Laghar Juy, Afghanistan on January 7. He died while receiving treatment at Jalalabad Airfield later.

He is survived by a wife and a 13-month-old son.

Healy was buried in a private ceremony in Orange County on Thursday.

In contrast, the other soldier to die from wounds inflicted by that IED, Maj. Michael L. Green, was buried in a very public way on Saturday, January 19. Thousands of people lined the streets of Gautier and Biloxi, Mississippi, along the funeral route as Green's body was carried to Biloxi National Cemetery.

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com.