Spc. Brittany B. Gordon "Her Dream was to serve"

Daughter of St. Petersburg assistant police chief dies in Afghanistan
Tampa Bay Times
By Keyonna Summers and Kameel Stanley
Times Staff Writers
In Print: Monday, October 15, 2012

"Her dream was to serve," said Brittany Gordon's cousin, the Rev. Evelyn Thompson. "If I would describe her, she had no fear. She wanted to make a difference. Because that's what military people do: make a difference in the lives of others."

[Courtesy of Gordon family]
Army Spc. Brittany B. Gordon was the daughter of St. Petersburg Assistant Police Chief Cedric Gordon and his former wife, Brenda Gordon.

ST. PETERSBURG — Days after her 24th birthday and just months before she was to return home this year, an Army soldier from St. Petersburg has died in Afghanistan.

Spc. Brittany B. Gordon, a 2006 St. Petersburg High School graduate, was the daughter of St. Petersburg Assistant Police Chief Cedric Gordon and his former wife, Brenda Gordon. On Saturday, the Army informed the family of her death.

"She made a major impact on everyone in her short life," said her aunt, the Rev. Debbie Thompson. "We just thank God for the memories of her we have in our hearts."

Gordon appears to be the first military woman from this area — Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties — to die in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It's devastating," said St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon, who spoke briefly Sunday to Cedric Gordon. "I don't think there can be anything more painful to go through. ... Our thoughts and prayers are with him."
Spc Brittany Gordon

Suicide attack killed female soldier from St. Pete, says C.W. Bill Young
Tampa Bay Times
By Kameel Stanley
Times Staff Writer
In Print: Tuesday, October 16, 2012
ST. PETERSBURG

Associated Press
Senior Airman Devon Garner-Klingbeil stands near transfer cases containing the remains of Army Spc. Brittany B. Gordon, left case, and Army Sgt. Robert J. Billings, right case, early Monday at Dover Air Force Base, Del.

A local soldier killed in Afghanistan on Saturday died in a suicide bomb attack, U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young told the Tampa Bay Times on Monday night.

Earlier Monday evening, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a news release saying that Army Spc. Brittany B. Gordon died from injuries caused by an improvised explosive device in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The military provided no other details.

Contacted by phone later that night, Young, R-Indian Shores, told the Times that military officials had advised him that the IED came from a suicide bomber.

"It is not one that was planted as a mine. The person was wearing a suicide vest. This is also considered an IED," said Young, who chairs the House defense appropriations subcommittee.

Late Monday night, the New York Times published a story describing a suicide attack that occurred Saturday morning in Afghanistan in which a U.S. soldier was killed. The article does not name the soldier, but the circumstances are what Young described.
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To all the women serving