MANSFIELD, MA, USA U.S. Army SPC, TROOP K, 3D SQUADRON, 3D ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT, FORT HOOD, TX MOSUL, IRAQ 11/12/2008
This fallen soldier ‘would do anything’ for his brothers. Army Specialist Corey M. Shea, 21, of Mansfield, Mass.; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas; gave “the last full measure of devotion” when he died Nov. 12, 2008 in Mosul, Iraq, when an Iraqi Army soldier wearing a uniform approached and opened fire.
Shea, a specialist and cavalry scout with Killer Troop had been in Iraq for a year and his tour of duty was set to expire in January. A young soldier, who enlisted in the Army during a time of war, quickly became his platoon leader’s “go-to-guy,” and in a year’s time accumulated eight medals.
He joined the Army for the camaraderie, the sense of belonging. No one likes being in war, but he liked being a soldier. He drove Humvees and Bradley vehicles, and manned gun turrets. “Anything they told him to do, he’d do in a heartbeat. He looked out for people, he looked out for me, too,” said his mother.
He graduated from Mansfield High School in 2005 as a popular student who played football and hockey. He had close friends, and many girlfriends. A heck of a poker player, Corey joined the Army because he knew he would be good as a soldier too.
Corey, a 21-year-old who grew into a man in Iraq, returned home to Mansfield in September and visited his old classroom at Mansfield High School to talk to the students there about his life as a soldier. Little did the students know that the man that inspired them would make the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
Shea was the son of Denise M. Anderson and her husband Jeffrey Margolin of Mansfield and William Shea and his wife Darlene Shea of Belmont. He also leaves his sisters, Kristin M. Anderson of Mansfield and Kayla Shea of Belmont; a brother, Benjamin Margolin of Binghamton, N.Y; his grandparents, Charles and Carol (Babbin) Anderson of Dracut.
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