Poteau Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

Tuesday, February 20th 2007, 1:40 pm

By: News On 6

Oklahoma National Guard Sergeant Buddy Hughie was killed during a firefight in northeastern Afghanistan Monday. The News on 6â€™s Ashli Sims reports he died trying to save others.

Folks are calling Sergeant Hughie a hero; he was going to help two wounded Afghan soldiers when he was shot down. Military leaders who knew him say that's just the kind of soldier he was.

Friends and loved ones reached out through cyberspace to share their condolences with the Hughie family. Judging from the posts, which started pouring in on his myspace page, Buddy Hughie was definitely loved and will be missed. The 25-year-old Oklahoma National Guardsman was shot and killed in northeast Afghanistan Monday morning.

â€œWeâ€™ve found out, since weâ€™ve received the reports in Afghanistan, that Buddy put himself in harms way to help some of the soldiers he was there working with,â€ said Captain Shane Riley with the Oklahoma National Guard. â€œThatâ€™s just the kind of guy he was.â€

Hughie graduated from Poteau High School. He had already served one tour in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003, but he volunteered to go back when he joined the 180th Infantry out of Durant, Oklahoma.

â€œWe donâ€™t have any doubt that he would give 100-percent everyday of the week, and he was doing what he believed in,â€ Riley said.

Hughie just became a father three months ago with the birth of his son Cooper. Friends promised on the soldier's myspace blog that the baby boy will know of his father was a hero, and he paid the ultimate price for his country.

â€œThis is a tragedy,â€ said Riley. â€œIt does take a special kind of person to want to step up and do the kind of things the young soldiers you see out there today are doing, and they are great Americans.â€

Governor Brad Henry expressed his condolences to the Hughie family. He calls Buddy Hughie "a true American hero."