Stanley Brian Reynolds – Staff Sergeant, United States Army

by

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1011-07
August 16, 2007

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of five soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.  They died August 14, 2007, in Al Taqqadum, Iraq, of injuries suffered when their helicopter crashed.  They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, Task Force 49, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Killed were:

The incident is under investigation

Friday, August 17 2007:

A Mercer County man was among five U.S. service members killed when their helicopter crashed during a routine post-maintenance test flight in Iraq, the Department of Defense said.

The CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed near Taqaddum air base on Tuesday. Among the victims was Staff Sergeant Stanley B. Reynolds, 37, of Lashmeet.

Soldiers Killed

Reynolds was a truck driver before enlisting in the military more than five years ago. His late father was a Marine who served in Vietnam.

“He wanted to serve his country the way his father did,” Anthony Masters, a family spokesman, said Thursday night.

Reynolds, who was married with three children ages 8, 6 and 4, left for Iraq in early July for a 15-month deployment, his second overseas, Masters said.

The Defense Department identified the other victims as Chief Warrant Officer Christopher C. Johnson, 31, of Michigan; Chief Warrant Officer Jackie L. McFarlane Jr, 30, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Staff Sergeant Sean P. Fisher, 29, of Santee, California; and Specialist Steven R. Jewell, 26, of Bridgeton, North Carolina.

They were part of the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, Task Force 49, based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Johnson's family was told the crash was an accident. Masters said he spoke Thursday with Reynolds' battalion commander, who indicated he didn't know how it happened.

The bodies of the five are scheduled to arrive in Dover, Delawre, on Friday afternoon, Masters said. Bailey Kirk Funeral Home in Princeton will be in charge of arrangements for Reynolds' funeral, he said.

August 18, 2007:
By Bill Archer
Courtesy of The Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Stan Reynolds was a hero to his family long before he gave his life for his country. The 37-year-old Staff Seergeant in the U. S. Army was the father of three young daughters — Katelyn, who recently turned 8, Kristan, 7, and Emily, 4, who will both celebrate birthdays soon. According to family members gathered Friday evening at the Reynolds home in Rock, Reynolds was a loving father to his three girls and husband to his wife, Jill, and a patriotic American.

“This was his second tour of Iraq,” his uncle, Richard Bailey said. “He didn’t want to go back. He knew what it was like. But he followed orders. He was patriotic and he loved this country.”

Stanley Reynolds was an inquisitive young man who liked to hang around with his father and his father’s buddies when they worked on farm machinery at the family’s Wright Mountain Road home. His mom and dad, Sandra and the late Bernard Reynolds, provided a loving home environment during Stanley’s formative years.

A neighbor, Mickey Hurst, recalled that Stan hung around and watched his dad, Hurst and another neighbor work on tractors. “He was always wearing a pair of short britches,” Hurst said. “I remember teasing him about those being his chicken britches.”

Bernard Reynolds was a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam War. “Bernard could do just about anything,” Hurst said. “He got a backhoe and some other construction equipment, but there wasn’t enough work around here to keep him busy. The family moved to North Carolina, and lived down there for five or six years while Stanley and his brother, Jeff finished growing up.

“They didn’t have it easy in any way,” Hurst said. “They weren’t the kind of people who ever had anything given to them. Everything they got, they worked for it. I think that’s why I identified so much with Bernard and his family. They are good, hard-working, honest people.”

Bernard Reynolds died at his home at age 57, on October 27, 2005. His family encouraged people to make memorial contributions to the Princeton office of the West Virginia Children’s Home Society.

Joanne Boileau, regional director of the Children’s Home Society expressed her appreciation for the gifts that came to the office, but was totally unaware of a connection between Mr. Reynolds or anyone in his extended family with the Children’s Home Society. “Sometimes people make gifts to the Children’s Home Society that go straight to Charleston,” Boileau said. “These gifts came to us.”

“He loved children,” Sandra Reynolds said of her husband. “That was the connection.”

Stan’s sister, Lu Reynolds, said her brother was attending Matoaka High School and would have graduated in the class of 1988, but the family moved to Statesville, N.C. and he finished high school in North Carolina. Lu Reynolds came back home and worked for a time in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph production department. Her co-workers remember her as being a free spirit with a deep love of family.

“She used to bring her son to work with her,” Teresa Jeffery said, “and she was always talking about her brother Stanley, and her whole family.”

After Stan Reynolds finished high school, he tried his hand at a number of occupations, before he becoming a trucker — an independent owner/operator. “That was a good job for a while, but after the price of fuel went real high, it put him out of business,” Richard Bailey said. “He went to school, earned his surface mining certification and went to work on a strip mining job. He was only there for about a month before he got laid off.”

At the time, Stan and Jill Reynolds had two girls, and Jill was pregnant with Emily. “Here’s a guy who was 31 years old, had a wife and two kids already, with another one on the way,” Bailey said. “When he joined the Army, he joked with me that he was getting a job that he wouldn’t get laid off from. But he was really patriotic too. He thought it was the right thing to do.”

Staff Sergeant Stanley B. Reynolds, Chief Warrant Officer Christopher C. Johnson, 31, of Michigan, Chief Warrant Officer Jackie L. McFarlane Jr., 30, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Staff Sergeant Sean P. Fisher, 29, of Santee, California, and Specialist Steven R. Jewell, 26, of Bridgeton, North Carolina, died on August 14, 2007, as a result of injuries they received when their CH-47 Chinook Helicopter crashed in Al Taqqadum, Iraq.

All five soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, Task Force 49, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. The Department of Defense notes that the incident is still under investigation. The Army transported Reynolds’ remains as well as the remains of his four comrades that died in Iraq to Dover, Delaware, on Friday.

In response to the many callers who asked how they could help Stan and Jill Reynolds’ young family, Rita Shrewsbury, Reynolds’ aunt, said the family has established the Staff Sergeant Stanley Reynolds Memorial Fund at First Community Bank. Contributions can be made to any First Community Bank location.

Stanley B. Reynolds tried his hand at a number of jobs – a trucker and a strip miner – but got laid off from both. He then chose the Army.

“Here's a guy who was 31 years old, had a wife and two kids already, with another one on the way,” his uncle, Richard Bailey said. “When he joined the Army, he joked with me that he was getting a job that he wouldn't get laid off from. But he was really patriotic too. He thought it was the right thing to do.”

Reynolds, 37, of Rock, West Virginia, was killed August 14, 2007, when his helicopter crashed in Taqaddum. He was assigned to Fort Wainwright and was on his second tour.

First Lieutenant Bryan Pierce, Reynolds' commanding officer, remembered the young soldier as “a hard worker, a loving family man and a friend to all,” Pierce wrote. “It did not matter your position or title, he treated everyone the same with utmost respect.”

In his spare time he enjoyed restoring old Ford trucks. He is survived by his wife, Jill, and three young daughters – Katelyn, 8, Kristan, 7, and Emily, 4. “Ladies, you should be very proud of your daddy,” Brigadier General John A. MacDonald told them.

NOTE: There will be a group burial for this aircrew at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, 3 October 2008, following services in the Post Chapel at Fort Myer, Virginia.

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