Cpl. Ciara M. Durkin of Quincy, Mass., was a 1996 graduate of Fontbonne Academy in Milton. As a young girl, she attended St. Mark's Elementary School in Dorchester. Though born in Ireland she moved with her family in 1986, at age 9 after her father retired as a teacher in Galway. He died several weeks later. She joined the Army National Guard in October 2005 after getting laid off from her informational technology job at Fenway Health. She wanted to be somewhere where she could help and felt it was an important job. Her duties with the 726th Task Force Diamond included making sure the finances of soldiers were in order and their families back home were getting their benefits. Ciara received commendations for her military service and was even credited with helping save the life in April of a contractor who fell 26 feet over a railing after slipping off a ladder in the building in Bagram where she worked. A portion of her ashes will be buried with her father at a cemetery in County Galway and per her wishes a part of the ashes will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. She served with the United States Army in Afghanistan and was killed while on duty at age 30.
Army
National Guard
726th Finance Unit
West Newton, Mass.
Army
National Guard
726th Finance Unit
West Newton, Mass.
Cpl. Ciara M. Durkin of Quincy, Mass., was a 1996 graduate of Fontbonne Academy in Milton. As a young girl, she attended St. Mark's Elementary School in Dorchester. Though born in Ireland she moved with her family in 1986, at age 9 after her father retired as a teacher in Galway. He died several weeks later. She joined the Army National Guard in October 2005 after getting laid off from her informational technology job at Fenway Health. She wanted to be somewhere where she could help and felt it was an important job. Her duties with the 726th Task Force Diamond included making sure the finances of soldiers were in order and their families back home were getting their benefits. Ciara received commendations for her military service and was even credited with helping save the life in April of a contractor who fell 26 feet over a railing after slipping off a ladder in the building in Bagram where she worked. A portion of her ashes will be buried with her father at a cemetery in County Galway and per her wishes a part of the ashes will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. She served with the United States Army in Afghanistan and was killed while on duty at age 30.
Army
National Guard
726th Finance Unit
West Newton, Mass.
Army
National Guard
726th Finance Unit
West Newton, Mass.
