Salute to Service - SGT Andrew Nicol
United States Army
February 7, 1987 – August 8, 2010
Represented by Stephon Gilmore and Kyle Van Noy
United States Army Sergeant Andrew C. Nicol, was born on February 7, 1987. SGT Nicol grew up in Kensington, New Hampshire and graduated from Exeter High School. Â
SGT Nicol was a Boy Scout and a volunteer with the Kensington Fire Department. He loved all sports, especially our New England Patriots, and excelled in wrestling and motor cross racing. He was fearless. Most of all, Andrew loved people. Â
SGT Nicol entered the US Army immediately after high school and completed basic training at Ft. Benning, in Georgia. He successfully completed both Airborne school and Ranger school and became part of the elite Army Rangers. During his tenure with the Rangers, he completed four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan prior to his most recent tour in Afghanistan. In 2009, SGT Nicol was awarded the Bronze Star with V device for Valor and heroism during a raid in Iraq in which his unit killed six insurgents, including the number two leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Due to his proficiency in combat, he rose to the position of team leader within the Rangers, leading up to 40 soldiers on tactical missions to hunt down enemy weapons caches and kill or capture enemy combatants threatening U.S. Forces and Afghan civilians.Â
Andrew died while serving in Afghanistan on August 8, 2010. SGT Nicol was leading a team of several U.S. Army Rangers during a tactical mission in Southern Afghanistan near the town of Kandahar when the device detonated, killing him and another American soldier. Andrew posthumously received the Bronze Medal of Valor and the Purple Heart.
