Brandon Asbury killed by small arms fire

A Tazewell County native died in combat in Iraq last Saturday.

The Department of Defense had released no details Monday, but family members confirmed that Brandon Asbury, 21, died in al Anbar Province, Iraq during combat operations with the 4th Infantry Division on October 7.

Kelly Perdue said Monday that her brother had married a girl from Texas and they resided near the division's home base at Fort Hood, Texas.

Asbury is the second Tazewell County native to die in combat in Iraq since U.S. forces invaded the country in 2003.

Sgt. Guy Stanley Hagy, Jr., a mortarman with the Fort Hood-based 1st Cavalry Division, died in September of 2004, when an improvised bomb went off near his observation post in Baghdad.

Perdue said her brother came from a military family that included their father, Army National Guardsman Walt Asbury.

Walt Asbury and fellow members of the Virginia Army National Guard's B Company 276th Engineer Battalion returned to Tazewell County last year from a year in Iraq that saw his unit involved in combat against insurgents in Mosul.

At least two Guardsmen from Asbury's unit were wounded during that tour. Specialist Dean Schwartz lost a leg during a rocket attack on his truck in the summer of 2004, and Sgt. Kyle Wright was among those injured in a suicide bomb attack on a mess hall in December 2004.

Asbury was a member of the Tazewell High band and Green T singers while attending Tazewell High School, Perdue said.

Perdue said that Asbury's body will be brought back to Texas for burial. A memorial service will be held in Tazewell at a later date.

As a sophomore, in a play called "Hollywood Hillbillies," Asbury played a character called Bubba to such comic perfection that members of the choir thereafter called him by the name, which, according to one classmate, usually prompted him to reprise the role on the spot.

"If you knew him, you had to love him," said Addie Blackburn, a classmate of Asbury's from first grade through graduation. "He always kept everyone laughing. He would brag about himself but in a joking manner so that he was actually picking on himself. He was never prideful or boastful. He was wonderful."

"Brandon had this glorious Jerry Lewis quality about him, because he knew the art of physical comedy to the point where I'm positive he wrote the book on the subject," said classmate Amanda "Ame" Branam, now a student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. "I never managed to catch him during a serious moment, because he made sure to keep such a joyous demeanor no matter the circumstances. The most respectable jester you've ever seen. He was also a charmer, and very sweet towards the opposite sex, so as you can imagine he was popular with the ladies. I've never heard anyone say an unkind word against him, and I don't think anyone could force out an insult either."

"He was wonderful and made everybody laugh," recalled classmate Ashley Maxfield, now a student at Virginia Tech. "I loved him, just as everybody else did. He was very outgoing, very comical. He was a do-anything-to-make-you-laugh kind of guy."

In school, Asbury sang in the choir, played in the band and performed in school plays. His senior year, his good-natured personality prompted students to elect him the Homecoming's Grand Marshall, the school's version of homecoming king.

Branam said he will always be remembered as a "blossoming comic genius."

"Watching him rehearse his roles, I didn't mind bruising my ribs from laughing," she said. "Those kinds of battle scars are worth it.

"The idea of someone that possessed his divine spark and gift of bestowing laughter is a foreign concept to me, and I'm still having a hard time computing that he isn't bouncing around somewhere, ensuring that the world has mirth."

Asbury was preceded in death by maternal grandparents Elza and Lillian Alberts. He is survived by his wife, Sherry; three stepchildren; parents, Walt and Lisa Asbury of Tazewell, and Diane Alberts and Donald Tedder of Taylorsville, NC; brother, Zachary Puckett of North Carolina; sister, Kelly Perdue and husband Jason of Tip Top; niece, Haley Perdue of Tip Top paternal grandparents, Walter Asbury, Sr. and Edith Asbury of Tazewell; maternal stepgrandparents, Theryl and Madeline Booth of Newhall, WV

From the Richlands News Press