ELKIN
Flags are flying at half-staff in Elkin to honor Army Capt. Mark A. Garner who was killed Monday in Afghanistan.
Mayor Lestine Hutchens ordered the national and state flags lowered yesterday at town buildings, including town hall, to pay tribute to Garner as Elkin mourns his death. Garner was a 1997 graduate of Elkin High School.
Garner was among seven U.S. troops killed in what was one of the deadliest days for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, officials said. Garner is the 13th person from Northwest North Carolina to die in the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq since 2004.
The Department of Defense has not identified any of the victims of Monday's incidents.
Garner was the commander of Company B, 1st Battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment based in Hohenfels, Germany. He was married to Nickayla Myers Garner, who also attended Elkin High School.
Mark Byrd, the principal of Elkin High, said that Garner's death was a "huge tragedy."
"Based on everything I've heard, he was an outstanding young man all the way around," Byrd said.
Garner was awarded the good citizenship award from the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1997, Byrd said.
In his yearbook, Garner told his classmates that "I plan to go college, get a good job and enjoy life."
Garner's mother, Beth, is a biology teacher at the school. Byrd said he has spoken to her, and that the family is taking the news hard.
"She's very close to her son, and it's a very close family," he said.
Garner played football, basketball and baseball in high school.
Dr. Will Ballard, a doctor at Jonesville Family Practice, said he has been Garner's friend since they were 4 or 5.
Ballard said he was shocked when he learned of Garner's death.
"I thought maybe it was a mistake," Ballard said. "Mark was a smart guy and a good athlete."
Garner and Ballard were teammates on Elkin High's basketball team. Ballard said he last spoke to Garner when Garner returned to Elkin last Christmas.
Before they left Germany to return to Elkin, Garner and his wife, Nickayla, sent holiday greetings to their family in Elkin, Jonesville and State Road through the Internet.
While he was in Elkin, Garner told Ballard that he enjoyed being a soldier, and he planned to spend his career as an Army officer.
"He was a real hard worker," Ballard said. "He enjoyed what he was doing."
While in high school, Garner never appeared to get upset with his coaches and teammates, Ballard said. He developed some of his leadership skills by playing sports.
"It would be hard for someone to say something bad about Mark," Ballard said. "He never sought attention or recognition. He was very unassuming and friendly. He was just a nice guy."
Perry Lloyd, one of Garner's football coaches at the school, said that Garner was outstanding on the field and in the classroom and earned an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
Garner graduated in 2002 from West Point as a second lieutenant, a West Point spokeswoman said.
"He always wanted to be a soldier," Lloyd said. "He was very committed. I don't think America could have a better soldier."
Lloyd said that news of Garner's death moved quickly through Elkin on Monday.
"We're a tight-knit community," he said. "I bet I had five people call me asking if I had heard."
Four of the soldiers' deaths Monday came in an attack on a team of U.S. military trainers in the relatively peaceful north, Navy Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo, a U.S. military spokesman, said.
Two Americans were killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan, Naranjo said. And another American soldier died of wounds in a firefight Monday with militants in the east, a U.S. military spokesman said.
There were no further details on those incidents in the south and the east.
■ Paul Garber can be reached at 727-7327 or at pgarber@wsjournal.com.
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
■ The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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