Fallen Kettering soldier remembered

Kettering Fairmont High School graduate was killed during raid in eastern Afghanistan.

More than 100 gathered Sunday for a“Celebration of Life”to honor U.S. Army Ranger Sgt. Cameron H. Thomas, killed in Afghanistan.

KETTERING —

More than 100 people, including friends and family, met Sunday for a “Celebration of Life” gathering to honor U.S. Army Ranger Sgt. Cameron H. Thomas at Polen Farms in Kettering.

Thomas died April 26 during a raid on an ISIS-K compound as U.S. and Afghan forces targeted high-level insurgent leaders in eastern Afghanistan. He was killed by small-arms fire, according to the Department of Defense.

Megan Wells, who helped organize the event, said she and Thomas had been friends since they were in high school. Thomas, a 2012 Kettering Fairmont High School graduate, also took classes at Centerville High School, where Wells attended.

Wells said an event where friends could celebrate Thomas’ life would have been what he wanted, with friends from all over the Dayton area.

“Everyone knows they’re connected to him in a special way, that’s why I think that’s why he wants to be celebrated so much by everyone,” she said.

Whenever Wells came home from deployment, he would have gatherings with friends, which Wells said was her favorite trait of Thomas’.

“This event goes to show that even when he’s not here with us, he continues to bring people together,” Wells said. “That’s what’s so awesome and speaks volumes about the person that he is.”

Thomas was on the school’s swim team and practiced mixed martial arts in preparation for his future military career, his family said.

It was through his military career that he met Sgt. Matthew Summers, who said the two forged a “brotherhood you can’t describe” during ranger selection.

“We hung out every single day for three years, we shared everything,” he said.

Summers said Thomas was an “optimistic person” who took on any challenge presented to him.

“There was nothing that Cameron couldn’t do,” Summers said. “If Cameron said he was going to do it, he was going to do it better than everybody else and he was going to accomplish that goal.