FRANKLIN, NH, USA U.S. Army CPL, COMPANY C, 3D BATTALION, 172D INFANTRY, MANCHESTER, NH LASHKAR GAH PROV KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN 10/13/2008
The line to get into the Franklin Middle School gym stretched down the hallways and along one side of the brick building as hundreds of people paid respects to a fallen soldier.
Army National Guard Corporal Scott Dimond of Franklin was killed in a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan last week. Hundreds of mourners attended calling hours Friday night, watching photos of Dimond flash on a big screen and sharing memories of the 20 years he spent as a police officer before joining the National Guard.
Scott G. Dimond’s uncle, Jean Dimond, said his nephew was fearless and up for any challenge, such as being the only child in the neighborhood brave enough to ride a friend’s red wagon down a hill.
“He had such a wonderful outlook on life,” Jean Dimond said.
Dimond, 39, of Franklin, N.H., died in an ambush Oct. 13 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was a 1987 high school graduate and was assigned to Milford, N.H.
Initially, he had planned to enter the Marine Corps, but the Marines wouldn’t take him because of a football injury, so he took a job with the Franklin Police Department. He started as a dispatcher, then moved up to special officer, then full-time officer, retiring as a sergeant after 18 years of service.
“He didn’t have a mean bone in his body,” said Bill Athanas, his old principal.
He had been taking pre-med courses, planning to earn a nursing degree and work alongside his mother caring for aged and injured veterans.
“I can’t say enough about him. I wish I had had five more just like him,” said former Franklin Police Chief Doug Boyd.
Dimond is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and his four children, Luke, Ashlee, Alexis and Madison.