The body of Spc. Robert A. Pierce will return to the 188th Fighter Wing in Fort Smith Thursday afternoon (June 13), according to a family member.
Family and members of the Freedom Riders veterans motorcycle club are expected to escort him to Edwards Funeral Home on North 12th. The funeral service will be at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 15, at Community Bible Church, 9201 Dallas Street, with burial at Roselawn Cemetery with full military honors.
Memorials may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, 4899 Nelfort Road, Suite 300, Jacksonville, FL 32256.
Pierce, 20, was among those killed in Tsamkani, Afghanistan when his unit was attacked by a “suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device” on June 3, according to a news release from the Department of Defense.
Pierce attended school in Panama, Okla., before transferring and graduating from Mansfield High School. Pierce was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based in Fort Campbell, Ky.
Officials say he joined the Army in 2011 and served in South Korea before coming to Fort Campbell.
Pierce is survived by his wife Christian M. Pierce of Huntington, Ark., and his parents, Randy R. Pierce of Panama, Okla., and Lonnetta R. Dart of Hartford, Ark.
