APOLLO, Pa. -- While mourning a soldier killed four years ago, an Armstrong County community learned of a fallen soldier killed in the line of duty this week.
Friends and family gathered at Apollo-Ridge High School's Owen's Field on Saturday morning to honor Josh Henry, a former football player who was killed four years ago while fighting in Iraq.
WTAE Channel 4's Tara Edwards Reports: Armstrong County Soldier Killed In AfghanistanWord came this week that 2nd Lt. Michael Girdano, a classmate, was killed on Thursday while fighting in Afghanistan.
Saturday's fundraiser for the football team also served as a small memorial service for Girdano, who graduated from West Point.
Girdano and Henry both played football on the same 80-year-old field. The community is raising money to repair the turf.
"I was just shocked more or less," said Adam Ross, a friend of Girdano. "It's news I never expected to hear."
The soldiers' former coach, John Simon, said the two were outstanding academics and inspirational football players.
"They were the strength during their last season of football and just great leaders," Simon said.
At the Saturday fundraiser, fellow alum and country music singer Kevin Morgan dedicated his song "Fallen Hero" to his former classmates.
Morgan said the community has come together during tragedy before when alum Stevon Booker was killed in Iraq in 2003.
"It's a hard thing when everybody's pulling together," Morgan said.
Morgan said the school will retire the jerseys worn by Girdano and Henry at the first football game in September.
Messages of condolence fill Girdano's MySpace page, describing how much he will be missed.
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