Staff Sergeant Anissa Shero was born October 5, 1970, in Grafton, WV. She was born into a military family, with Grandfather James Shuttleworth, a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, and her father, who lost both legs serving in Vietnam.
Shero graduated from Grafton High School in 1988, attended Fairmont State College in West Virginia, and worked for a local radio station while pursuing her degree. She enlisted in the Air Force in 1992.
Staff Sergeant Anissa Shero served as a loadmaster aboard an MC-130 Combat Talon II, call sign Chariot-55, during Operation Enduring Freedom. On June 12, 2002, her team executed a mission to extract a three-man US Special Forces team near the village of Sardeh Band, Afghanistan.
Once on the ground, Shero and fellow loadmaster TSgt Sean Corlew, both from the 15th Special Operations Squadron, performed an engine-running on-load. After onboard, the team attempted takeoff but were forced to abort. It was then that Shero discovered two soldiers unrestrained and told them to buckle up. Shortly after, the aircraft attempted to take off again, but this time crashed. Shero, TSgt Corlew, and US Army Sergeant First Class Peter Tycz were killed in the crash. The two soldiers SSgt Shero told to buckle up both survived. Staff Sergeant Shero was 31.
Days before Staff Sergeant Shero died, she sent her father Clyde Shuttleworth a card for Father’s Day. Her father described it as “. . . The last letter I’ll get from her. I’ll keep it close by. I’m just numb right now. It’s hard to believe this happened.”
Staff Sergeant Anissa Shero is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
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