Fayette County soldier killed in Afghanistan

PITTSBURGH (AP) — An Army master sergeant from Fayette County was killed by gunfire while fighting in Afghanistan.

Arthur L. Lilley, 35, of Smithfield, was killed Friday in Shkin, according to the Department of Defense.

Lilley had been assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, out of Fort Bragg, N.C.

His father, Arthur F. Lilley, said his son joined the military in 1990 and fought in Desert Storm. He was also in Iraq last year.

"He's got about 25 combat badges," his father said.

"He loved what he was doing. He enjoyed it. That was his life," he said. "You always worry, but it's what he wanted to do."

Lilley is survived by a wife, Christine, a daughter, Mackenzie, 10, and a son, Cole, 8. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Saturday.

Lilley was colorblind and couldn't pursue his goal of being an air traffic controller for the Air Force, so the Army became an option he never regretted, his mother, Elizabeth Lilley, told The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C.

He was a youth minister and his wife ran the school at St. Andrew's United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, N.C., Elizabeth Lilley said. Lilley also enjoyed off-road driving in his modified four-wheel-drive vehicle, according to his family.

A memorial service was scheduled for Sunday at St. Andrew's United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.