MS SC657

Honors Sergeant First Class Billy Albert "Bill" Sutton, age 42, of Mooreville, Mississippi, who died on February 7, 2012, while serving in the Uruzgan Province of Afghanistan with the 223rd Engineer Battalion, Mississippi Army National Guard

Sutton was born June 8, 1969, in Milton, Florida, graduated from Baldwyn High School in 1987, and served four years with the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division before joining the Mississippi National Guard on September 5, 2002

Sutton was on his third tour of duty (two in Iraq, one in Afghanistan) and served as a Platoon Leader with the 288th Sapper Company out of Houston, Texas, earning the Bronze Star and Magnolia Cross posthumously

Sutton is survived by his wife Traci Durham Sutton (married November 6, 1998), son Tyler Durham, mother Jo Ann Owen Sutton Starling, and multiple siblings and extended family members

At least 78 soldiers and sailors with Mississippi ties have died in Operation Enduring Freedom since its beginning in Iraq and Afghanistan