CHAGRIN FALLS, OH, USA U.S. Army MAJ, HHC, SPECIAL TROOP BATTALION, V CORPS, HEIDELBERG, GERMANY LAGHAR JUY, AFGHANISTAN 01/07/2008
Army Major Michael L. Green, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio; assigned to Headquarters, V Corps, Heidelberg, Germany; died January 07, 2008 in Laghar Juy, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.
Major Green, a former Mississippi resident, was in Afghanistan training militia recruits how to detect and dispose of roadside bombs, his twin sister, Michelle Green LeBatard said.
Local police found a roadside bomb and called in the soldiers to assist. A second bomb nearby hit their vehicle. Maj Green was a member of the Army Special Forces Command assigned to V Corps headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany.
LeBatard, also said that her brother would often bring fellow soldiers to the Gulf coast to introduce them to the area where he grew up. “He loved the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” LeBatard said. “He lived all over the world, Egypt, Germany, Kansas, but the coast was his home.”
Green attended Pascagoula (MS) High School through his junior year, then moved to West Virginia where he graduated from Fairmont State. He was a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps there and joined the Army after college.
“He wanted to make it his career,” LeBatard said.
LeBatard said Green had not seen duty in either Afghanistan or Iraq before deploying. Instead, he was assigned to training troops at Camp Shelby to prepare them to go overseas.
“He felt like he was being slighted,” she said. “He did not want to just send men out, but wanted to serve beside them. He felt there was something that needed to be done. He was trained to do what he did and he wanted to do it.”
In addition to LeBatard, Green is survived by his parents, Hacy Green Sr. and Jane Green, and brothers Hacy Green Jr. and Scott Green. He was not married and did not have children.