Soldier from Berks County killed in Afghanistan

A Bronze Star recipient from Berks County, Pa., who was engaged to be married was killed Monday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the Army announced Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Sean Michael Flannery, 29, of Wyomissing, was killed by an improvised explosive device in the village of Ghotamudkha in Kandahar province, a Taliban hotbed. Also killed in the incident was Spec. William Kyle Middleton, 26, of Norfolk, Va.

Flannery, who was engaged to Christina E. Martin of Raleigh, N.C., was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky. He also had served in Iraq.

Flannery was born in West Reading and graduated in 1999 from Wyomissing High School, where he was captain of the soccer team. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Shippensburg University.

On his Facebook page, he listed that he was a fan of the Eagles and the comic actor Will Ferrell.

His mother, Charlene V. Flannery, wrote on her Facebook page on Nov. 1 that her son's best friend recently had been killed in a firefight in Afghanistan and that his platoon sergeant also had died.

Flannery is also survived by brothers Devin J. and Brian P., an Army sergeant.