Slain soldier lived in Vermont
Ryan McGhee attended Springfield High School
Toolbox
By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: May 16, 2009
SPRINGFIELD – The last time his childhood friends in Springfield saw Ryan McGhee, he was a high school freshman, a Vermont kid who loved snowboarding and football.
He finished up his first year at Springfield High School before his family moved to Virginia six years ago.
McGhee, 21, was killed in action Wednesday in Iraq during combat as an Army Ranger corporal. He had planned on coming back to Vermont this year, to introduce his Virginian fiancée to his childhood friends, several people said Friday.
McGhee, who joined the Army shortly after graduating high school in Virginia, was on his fourth tour of duty – his first three were in Afghanistan and his latest was in Iraq. He was a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment, 3rd Battalion, and was an automatic rifleman in what the Army describes as its "premier light infantry unit."
According to Tracy Bailey, a spokeswoman for the Army's Fort Benning, Ga., McGhee hadn't been in Iraq very long before he was killed Wednesday. His remains were returned to Fredericksburg, Va., on Thursday.
Bailey said she couldn't say exactly what McGhee was doing in Iraq or how long he had been there. But he was part of an effort in central Iraq aimed at ridding the area of a "weapons facilitator."
Padraic Scanlon, a classmate at Springfield High School, said he last talked to McGhee via Facebook, the social-networking Web site, and that McGhee told him he was bringing his high school sweetheart and fiancée, Ashleigh Mitchell, to Vermont.
Scanlon and McGhee grew up in the same neighborhood near Union Street School and Park Street, and he said for as long as he could remember, he played with McGhee.
Scanlon said McGhee had been a member of the class of 2006.
Classmate and friend Tim Putnam was on duty at the Springfield Fire Station on Friday afternoon, and said he found out about his friend's death from another friend earlier in the day. He said he immediately went to McGhee's Facebook page and then Googled until he found Virginia newspaper articles about his friend's death.
McGhee has more than 240 friends on his Facebook page, a combination of friends from Vermont, Virginia and his years in the Army.
"He always had a lot of friends," said Putnam, who posed with McGhee in the 2003 Springfield High School yearbook. He said the last time he had seen him was when he moved away.
Details on services for McGhee were still undecided, Bailey said, noting that the family did plan on having a memorial service in Fredericksburg, Va., where McGhee graduated from Massaponax High School. It is unknown where he will be buried, she said.
Bailey said McGhee was first deployed to Afghanistan in October 2007, and she said the fact that he was on his fourth deployment "spoke to the depth of his commitment and his integrity."
According to the military, McGhee was born in Pennsylvania, and his friends said he lived the majority of his life in Vermont.
McGhee is survived by his father Steven McGhee of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and his mother, Sherrie McGhee, of Knoxville, Tenn., as well as his brother Zachary McGhee of Stafford County, Va., who is a sergeant in the Army National Guard, based in Fredericksburg.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
(This article was edited May 19, 2008 to correct the last name of McGee's fiancee.)
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