David Roddy honored, laid to rest

From his early youth, Petty Officer David Sean Roddy could take things apart and fix them, even things like his father's boat that didn't need fixing.

That memory related by the Rev. Charles Wible drew soft laughter from hundreds gathered yesterday for the sailor's funeral Mass at his home parish in Abingdon. The man who could fix almost anything died Sept. 16 in Iraq's Al Anbar province, while trying to dismantle a bomb. He was 32.

"It is not age that gives us honor but the quality of our lives," Father Wible, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church, said. "David's job was to risk his own life, so that others might be kept safe."

The Bel Air High School and Harford Community College graduate enlisted in the Navy seven years ago. He worked with computers, did some diving and about two years ago began training for demolition work. Petty Officer Roddy was most recently assigned to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit in Norfolk, Va., where he resided with his wife, Cristale, and three children. He was deployed to Iraq in June.

Capt. Frank Morneau, commander of the disposal unit in which Petty Officer Roddy served, eulogized him as a warrior and shipmate.

"David's work helped save the lives of 20,000 soldiers, sailors and Marines based in Al Anbar province," Captain Morneau said. "I represent David's other family and there are many more of us not inside the walls of this church. God bless him and his shipmates who are currently in harm's way."

Petty Officer Roddy was awarded the Purple Heart, which was presented to his family yesterday.

Read the rest at the Baltimore Sun

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Ordnance expert David Roddy killed in Iraq