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Loved ones remember Kentucky soldiers killed in car wreck

Updated: Fri 11:56 PM, Sep 14, 2012

WKYT has tracked down new information in the deaths of two Kentucky soldiers.

Ronald Forsyth and Jason Burnette died in a car crash while on a training mission in Devils Lake, N.D. early Thursday morning.

Friday, police charged the driver and fellow soldier Christopher Brandt. The charges come as Forsyth and Burnette's loved ones share memories of them.

Jason Burnette was a member of the Kentucky National Guard with a gift for singing. His Clay County High School choral teacher remembers him fondly.

"Jason was just really sweet and thoughtful and funny. He always had a smile. He was always there to lend a hand when you needed one. He was a fine young man, and we are so saddened," says teacher Melissa Doll.

Burnette and fellow National Guard member Ronald Forsyth II died early Thursday morning in a car wreck in North Dakota, where they were training with their unit.

"He was our Superman. Ronnie was our Superman. He said 'mom, you were always my hero.' My son's my hero," cries Forsyth's mother, Rhonda Ashbrook.

Ashbrook says Forsyth was supposed to return home from training Sunday.

"No mother ever wants that news, and there's another mother hurts just as badly as I do and I feel for her. We want our boys back. We want our babies back."

Loved ones of both men are now preparing to say their final goodbyes.

"He was always to be the first one there and to be ready and to be on task and to do his part. And turns out how he spent his life," explains Doll.

Christopher Brandt is charged with two counts of manslaughter and one count of reckless endangerment for placing a third passenger, David Duncan, in danger during the wreck.


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