Published: June 05, 2008 01:20 pm         

Stillwater soldier killed

Maj. Scott Hagerty, a 1984 Stillwater High grad, dies in Afghanistan

Maj. Scott Hagerty, a graduate of Stillwater High School and Oklahoma State University, was killed Tuesday while serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

Maj. Steve Wuensche, a casualty assistance officer, said Thursday he did not have information concerning how Hagerty died and referred calls to Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. Ft. Bragg officials did not immediately return a phone message.

Wuensche is working with Hagerty’s family concerning funeral arrangements and military benefits.

Hagerty had lived in Stillwater since 1976 when his family moved to Oklahoma. He graduated from Stillwater High School in 1984 and joined the Army in 1986.

“He was a wonderful person,” his mother, Shirley Hagerty of Stillwater, said Thursday morning. “That was what he wanted to do — fight for his country.”

For a NewsPress story published April 21, 2007, Hagerty was interviewed via e-mail while he was serving in Uganda, where his mission was to prevent conflict and promote regional stability.

“I have always dreamed about being a soldier, even as a little boy, so I know I am doing the job that was destined for me,” he wrote to the NewsPress.

At that time, part of his mission was to repair wells in northern Uganda, where he and fellow soldiers had repaired more than 60 wells that provided about 250,000 residents with clean water.

His first deployment was to Iraq from October 2004 to August 2005.

Hagerty earned a bachelor’s degree in 1993 in political science, pre-law and international relations from Oklahoma State University.

The 41-year-old is survived by his wife of 12 years, Daphne, and two sons, Jonathan, 10, and Samuel, 20 months. Samuel is named after a civilian contractor Hagerty worked with in Iraq who was later killed by an improvised explosive device.

     

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