KETTERING COMMUNITY HONORS FALLEN RANGER
Funeral for Cameron H. Thomas will be May 12 and 13 in Virginia.
Funeral services for U.S. Army Ranger Sgt. Cameron H. Thomas have been scheduled for May 12 and 13 in Culpepper, Va.
The viewing is scheduled for 6-9 p.m. May 12 at 420 Willow Lawn Drive, Culpepper. His funeral will be held May 13 at 10 a.m. at Salem Volunteer Fire & Rescue, 13428 Scotts Mill Rd.
More than 100 people turned out Wednesday night to honor Thomas during a candlelight vigil at the Fraze Pavilion, despite the chilly and wet weather.
Thomas, who grew up in Kettering, died April 26 during a raid on an ISIS-K compound as U.S. and Afghan forces targeted highlevel insurgent leaders in eastern Afghanistan. He was killed by small-arms fire, according to the Department of Defense.
Thomas, a 2012 Kettering Fairmont High School graduate, was on the school’s swim team and
practiced mixed martial arts in preparation for his future military career, his family said.
“He was a fixture in our home for more than three or four years,” said Tina Hohl, whose son was friends with Thomas. “He was always a great kid. He was always there to help everyone, and we knew him affectionately as ‘Captain America.’”
Hohl said Thomas was a natural leader who would have been taken aback by all the attention at the vigil.
“But he deserves it,” she said.
Friends and family said it was Thomas’ lifelong dream to become an Army Ranger.
“It was a passion of his; he was very sincere about it,” Hohl said. “His senior year in high school, we actually arranged for him to go skydiving, and (the photo) is still on his Facebook page today. I think he really wanted to go skydiving not because it was cool but because in his mind it prepared him for the Rangers. He wanted to be one step ahead ... the day that he jumped, he actu-
ally had the opportunity to meet with a lot of the special forces guys and the folks who had actually served in the military, so for him that experience was more than just a jump.”
An investigation is under- way to determine whether Thomas, an anti-armor specialist, and Sgt. Joshua P. Rodgers, 22, of Bloomington, Ill., were killed by friendly fire. Both soldiers were assigned to Company D, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga.
Another memorial event for Thomas is planned for Sunday at Polen Farm, 5099 Bigger Rd. in Kettering, from 1 — 5 p.m.