A memorial service for Sgt. Michael Sturdivant will be held at 10 a.m. on Feb. 9 at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, located at 7000 John F. Kennedy Blvd. in North Little Rock.
Sturdivant was killed in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Jan. 22. According to a U.S. Army news release, he was killed in a vehicle rollover during a convoy operation. He was two weeks away from the end of his tour of duty and would have been 21 in February.
He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday.
Sturdivant was a University of Central Arkansas student living in Conway before his deployment as a civil affairs sergeant assigned to the 431st Civil Affairs Battalion, stationed in North Little Rock. The 431st is a subordinate unit of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) of Fort Bragg, N.C..
"Michael was so bright," Sturdivant's grandfather, David Clark of Clinton, said. "He was always very, very bright and as analytical as the dickens. He was playing chess when he was 7.
"He always had a little quiet space around him," Clark continued. "When he needed to think, and he thought a lot, he pulled the shade down and had this quite space around him and it was hard to get to him through that sometimes."
Sturdivant earned the rank of Eagle Scout with North Little Rock's Troop 427. He was an assistant scout master for the troop and a member of the Order of the Arrow until the time of his deployment.
"Michael was a student and he loved scouting," Clark said. "He worked so hard at getting all the badges and all those things. Michael had a good sense of humor, but mostly he was always a guy that liked to learn things and he liked to teach things. I think Michael was a natural leader and a natural teacher. So many people have tremendous amounts of information and ability that they never use, but Michael used his, very quietly in some cases, but he always used what he had.
"I regret that I didn't have a lot of time with him."
Sturdivant's grandmother, Betty Lou Clark, said she remembers him as "a delightful little boy."
"I don't now where to start," she said. "He was always very bright, very verbal. He talked very clearly and always had a very nice vocabulary when he was so young. His words were very crisp I don't remember him ever talking baby talk. I'm sure he did, but I just remember him talking so well so early."
In his military career, Sturdivant earned the Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with "M" device, NCO Professional Development Ribbon and the Army Service Ribbon. He was the 3,931th U.S. serviceman to die in Iraq.
For his Eagle Scout project, Sturdivant designed and oversaw the construction of several bridges along a walking path at Woolly Hollow State Park near Greenbrier.
He became a Catholic at North Little Rock's Immaculate Conception Catholic Church shortly before his deployment. His parents, Steve and Cheryl Sturdivant, reside in Bonner, Mont.
(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached by e-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
