Chief Warrant Officer Edward Cantrell died early Tuesday morning trying to save his two young daughters, ages 4 and 6, from a quick-moving fire that swept through their home. The two little girls were also killed in the blaze. Cantrell, 36, was a Green Beret who'd just returned from his fifth deployment to Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press.
CNN reports Cantrell, his wife Louise (who survived the fire), and their two daughters lsabella and Natalia lived in the 1920s-era home in the Fayetteville, North Carolina suburb of Hope Mills.
Lt. Col. April Olsen, spokeswoman for U.S. Army Services Command at Fort Bragg, told CNN that Cantrell had earned Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart while serving his country. She said of Cantrell's death:
North Carolina television station WTVD has more on this heartbreaking story:
