Hundreds pay respect to New Castle hero killed in Afghanistan

By BOB JACKSON

news@vindy.com

NEW CASTLE, Pa.

Staff Sgt. Edward Mills Jr. didn’t become a hero just by joining the military or by sacrificing his life in the line of duty.

He’d been a hero all his life. And he was so much more, those close to him say.

“I’m here to tell you that, to me, Eddie was just my big brother. He has always been there for me. He has always been my hero,” said Mills’ brother, Pastor Jarod Mills. “People think of Eddie as an American hero, and I’m so thankful that people now know the hero that I know.”

Sgt. Mills, 29, of New Castle, died of wounds sustained after an attack in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on May 26. He was among six soldiers killed in the attack, and his brother eulogized him during a funeral Saturday morning at Ed & Don DeCarbo Funeral Home and Crematory on South Mill Street.

In an emotional, tearful remembrance, Jarod, 24, described his older brother as a quietly generous man, much like his grandfather had been.

“Eddie never wanted recognition for anything he did,” Jarod said. “He gave everything he had. How much more love could Eddie show for us than giving up his life for us?”

A 2000 graduate of Union High School, Edward joined the military in 2005 and was a member of the Army’s 101st Airborne Ranger Pathfinders on his third tour of duty in the Middle East.

Jarod said he and Edward’s family have taken comfort in knowing that Edward was a Christian who has gone on to heaven. He said the best way for people to honor Edward is to pattern their lives after the fallen hero’s.

“Flying the American flag is nice, and standing out [along the streets] is nice,” Jarod said. “But the only way you are going to truly honor my brother is by living out a godly life the way he did.”

Jarod said that the day Edward left home to return to Afghanistan, they shared a passage of Scripture from the fourth chapter of Revelation.

“That is one of the few Scriptures about what heaven is going to look like, and it was the last ‘picture’ that I gave Eddie before he left,” Jarod said.

Read the full story, complete with photographs from the funeral, Sunday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.