Soldier 'loved what she was doing' in Army

CHARLESTON -- Even though Cynthia Taylor was 32 years old when she joined the U.S. Army, her mother said serving her country is something Taylor always wanted to do.

"At 17 and again at 19 years old, she wanted to join the Army, and my sisters convinced her not to," recalled Taylor's mother, Judy Ann Hart of Charleston.

But Taylor never gave up on her dream. In 2003, she enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., as a member of the 101st Airborne Sustainment Brigade and was a wheel mechanic.

"She loved what she was doing," Hart said about her daughter.

On April 16, the 39-year-old staff sergeant was killed by a suicide bomber while serving with the 101st Airborne Sustainment Brigade at the Forward Operation Base in Kabul Gamberi, Afghanistan.

"I wish everybody could've known her," Hart said about her daughter. "She was an awesome child and adult -- and a fantastic soldier."

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