Number 93

Kentucky's 93rd sacrifice to the Iraq/Afghanistan clusterfuck is 19-year-old newlywed Michael Pridham of Louisville.

A Louisville soldier is one of three American service personnel killed in action in Afghanistan. Nineteen-year-old Pfc. Michael S. Pridham died July 6 in Qalat from wounds he suffered when his vehicle was attacked by insurgents with an IED.

Pridham's wife, 17-year-old Deidre says it's all hard to believe. "He would always tell me, I'm coming home, says Deidre. "Don't worry, I promise I'm coming home. I knew something was wrong because there were two army men in my house. But, it just felt kinda like a dream...like a nightmare."

Deidre and Michael got married just days before Michael was deployed. Michael was supposed to be back home in just six weeks, close to when the couple is expecting their first child.

"He was real excited," says Deidre. "I mean, he wanted a boy. But, he got used to it being a girl."

The newly married couple spoke twice a day, everyday on the phone. Deidre says Michael would always talk about how much he was looking forward to coming home.

"Talked about what we would do when he got back and just asked me how I was doing," says Deidre. "He asked about the baby all the time." Deidre says she'll tell her daughter how much her father loved video games, had lots of friends, and was a Cards fan, that her father died a hero.

Michael's father, Michael Shane Pridham sent WAVE 3 a statement: "Mikey was more of a man at 19 years old because of the army than most men I know. He died doing something he believed in and did not die in vain."

To the extent that Pfc Pridham's death increases the intensity of American opposition to this desert quagmire and moves us closer to stopping the Long War, then no, he did not die in vain.