Brandon, Stacey C.

Age:               35

Hometown:  Hazen

Rank:             Staff Sergeant: Arkansas Army National Guard - 39th; Support Battalion, 39th Infantry; Brigade Combat Team, Cavalry Division

Cause:          Died in Taji, Iraq, on April 24, 2004, from wounds suffered in combat

Sgt. Stacey Brandon, of Hazen, was a 1987 graduate of Kingsland High School.  As a
corrections officer, he went on to work at the state Department of Correction in Pine Bluff
and laterwith the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Forrest City.

In the words of his colleague, Lt. Colonel Don Brooks, "Stacey was one of those guys that
five minutes after you met him you felt like you'd known him forever, and you knew you had a
friend for life.

Sgt. Brandon joined the Arkansas National Guard in 1990.  In May of 2001, he was
transferred to Headquarters Company, 39; Support Battalion, before he went on active duty in
Operation Iraqi Freedom in October. 

My thoughts and prayers are with Sgt. Brandon's wife, April; his year-old daughter Brianna;
his four-year old son Johnathan; his parents George and Mary Ann; and all of those who knew and loved him.