Jamie D. Jarboe

A LIFE REMEMBERED

We speak the name.

Army Sgt. Jamie D. Jarboe died March 21 in Topeka, Kan., from wounds suffered on April 10, 2011, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire. Wounded Topeka soldier dies of injuries The Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. &mdash A Fort Riley soldier who endured more than 100 surgeries after a sniper&#39s bullet in Afghanistan left him mostly paralyzed has died in Topeka, less than five weeks after a crowd of airport well-wishers saluted his return to the city and his wife and family. Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home in Topeka confirmed that 27-year-old Sgt. Jamie Jarboe died Wednesday of his injuries. The death was announced on Facebook shortly after his wife, Melissa, wrote that he had been placed in a hospice setting a week ago, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Thousands of people have followed the Facebook chronicle of the family&#39s travails and hopes over the past 11 months, and hundreds left messages there Wednesday afternoon. A native of Frankfort, Ind., Jamie Jarboe was assigned to 4th Squadron, 4th Calvary Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division from Fort Riley. The unit is known as the Pale Riders. He deployed to Afghanistan in February 2011 and was shot April 10 while on foot patrol in the Zhari district. The bullet, from a sniper&#39s AK47 rifle, penetrated his spine and left him paralyzed from the chest down. In the following 10 months he underwent more than 100 operations, first at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., then at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore before he was transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Denver. Melissa Jarboe, a native of the northeastern Kansas town of Holton, spent as much time as possible with him during those months while their two daughters remained in Topeka to attend school. On Feb. 17 &mdash three days after the couple&#39s first wedding anniversary &mdash dozens of members of the American Legion and Patriot Guard Riders stood at attention as a private medical plane touched down at Topeka&#39s Philip Billard Memorial Airport. Melissa Jarboe and the couple&#39s daughters, Celestial and Alexa, were on the tarmac as Jarboe was moved onto a stretcher and placed in an ambulance for a ride to a Topeka rehab facility, escorted by Patriot Guard motorcyclists. Jarboe was unable to fully return the salutes of those who gave him a hero&#39s welcome, but he could lift a hand and wave briefly. The turnout that day was especially gratifying for Melissa Jarboe. There were times, she said, that her husband believed that "some people forget &mdash some people don&#39t care about the soldiers. I tell him, &#39I beg to differ,&#39" she told The Capital-Journal that day. "Today it really shows how strong the support is for him here in Topeka, Kan."