By Associated Press
Prattville, AL – A fallen Army paratrooper will be buried Friday in his hometown of Prattville. 19-year-old Private First Class Stephen Bicknell was killed October 15th when the Humvee he was driving struck a roadside bomb in Samarra, Iraq. He had been in the Army only six months and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Bicknell's body was returned last night. About a dozen members of the Patriot Guard Riders escorted the hearse on Interstate 65. Bicknell, a 2005 graduate of Prattville High School, is survived by his wife, Miranda Barrett Bicknell, who is six months pregnant. Visitation will be from 4 until 8 p-m Thursday in the Prattville High School gymnasium. Funeral services for Bicknell will begin at 1 p-m Friday at First United Methodist Church in Prattville. He will be buried with full military honors at Prattville Memory Gardens. He is the second soldier from Prattville to die in Iraq in the past four months. Army Sgt. Carlos Pernell was killed June sixth in a mortar attack in Baghdad.