Georgia Guardsman from Calhoun killed in Afghanistan

From the Georgia National Guard:

First Sergeant John D. Blair, a member of 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry of the Georgia National Guard was killed in action June 20 in Afghanistan supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Below is the official Department of the Army announcement on this incident.

1st Sgt. John D. Blair, 38, of Calhoun, Ga., died June 20 in Mado Zayi, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle. He was an Army National Guardsman assigned to the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry in Lawrenceville, Ga.

Stars and Stripes has a moving account of the attack and a portrait of Sgt. Blair from his men:

(Staff Sgt. Timothy) Bellinger felt the strike of a rocket-propelled grenade as it tore through the turret. He heard Blair’s gun cease firing. He saw the body of a man who always pushed his guys to do it right, slump lifelessly in the belt.

Bellinger did as he’d been trained.

He pulled the faceless body of a man he’d come to love out of the gunner’s belt and climbed into the turret to replace him.