Happy Memorial day!! Tomorrow the kids and I are going to my hometown to honor the memory of Sgt. Joshua Brennan. I myself have never had the chance to meet Josh, but he was a part of the community I grew up in.
Sgt. Brennan was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy; died Oct. 26, 2007 in Asadabad, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained Oct. 25 at Korengal Valley, when he came in contact with enemy forces using rocket-propelled grenade, machine-gun and small-arms fire during combat operations. Army Sgt. Josh Brennan, 22, was shot in the chest on patrol in Kunar province, his father, Michael Brennan, of McFarland, Wis., told The Associated Press. He was a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Taliban fighters tried to drag the soldier’s body off, but a medic hurled six hand grenades at them before he himself was killed, Michael Brennan said. He said the military notified him of his son’s death Oct. 26. He said his son told him his unit had seen combat almost every day over the last two months. Josh was shot in the leg in August, recovered, and returned to duty, his father said. His enlistment was to have ended last month but he had to serve another year under the Army’s stop-loss doctrine, Michael Brennan said. Josh grew up primarily with his mother in Oregon and graduated from Ontario High School, his father said. He spent the summers with his father in Wisconsin. Michael Brennan said he and his son’s mother both served with the military police in the Army. In school Josh ran track, played football and won a good citizenship award, Michael Brennan said. His father said he asked Josh it he wanted him to try to get congressional intervention to get him out of the extra year. “He said, ‘No, Dad, I don’t want you do any of that. I’ll serve my time with my friends.’ ” He said his son won two Bronze Stars for valor. I’m very proud. I didn’t want him to have to give his life up like this,” Michael Brennan said, his voice quivering. Ontario soldier remembered as dedicated, dependable young man The Associated Press ONTARIO, Ore. — Army Sgt. Joshua Brennan asked his mother last month to mail him a sturdy Bible because he was developing a strong relationship with God. Brennan and his mother, Janice Gates of Ontario, communicated through Gates’ MySpace page. After Brennan’s platoon sergeant died in Afghanistan several weeks ago, she posted the song “Heaven Was Needing a Hero” to comfort her son. “Never in my wildest dreams did I know heaven was needing him, too,” Gates said a day after learning her son died in combat. Brennan, 22, died Oct. 26 from wounds he had suffered the day before in a firefight, according to the Department of Defense. He was serving his second tour in Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Combat Team. His father, Michael Brennan of McFarland, Wis., told The Associated Press that after Taliban fighters shot his son in the chest, they tried to drag the wounded soldier away, but a medic threw grenades at them before he himself was killed. “If it weren’t for that medic, horrific things could have happened to Joshua,” Gates said in an interview with The Oregonian newspaper. Gates said her son’s enlistment was supposed to end in September, but a stop-loss order extended it a year. “Josh struggled with that for a little while. He certainly wasn’t resentful of it,” Gates said. “He truly felt that what brought him to Afghanistan was a worthwhile and just cause, that they needed to be there to preserve independence and freedom in the United States and worldwide.” Brennan, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient, was wounded in the leg in early August. “Within days of being shot, he was insistent he wanted to be back out with his men,” Gates said. “He wanted to make sure they were OK.” A 2003 graduate of Ontario High School, Brennan ran the hurdles, played football and hunted elk with his grandfather, uncle and stepfather, Jared Cutler. After the military, Brennan intended to attend college and pursue a career in forensic science or criminology, Gates said. Brennan returned home on leave in May, and friends and family threw a party and “lavished him with love,” his mother said. “When I was raising Josh, I wasn’t financially able to do things like pay for his car insurance, pay for a vehicle, pay for a cell phone, these extra amenities kids get these days,” Gates said. Brennan worked a part-time job at a print shop and paid for his own extras while maintaining above-average grades. “He was just such a responsible young man,” she said. “I know he would have done absolutely amazing things in his life.” Army Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan was killed in action on 10/25/07.
I remember the day Josh's body was brought back to McFarland, for his funeral. Illinois police guided him from O'Hare Airport in Chicago to Wisconsin State line, where WIsconsin police then took over. Jason and myself along with hundreds of other people lined the streets leading from the entrance in to McFarland to the cemetary. Every school, daycare center and buisness, closed for a while. Students lined up. It was so amazing to see a community pull together.
McFarland also suffered the loss of another fallen soldier, My friend Scott's sister. Rachel Hugo was killed.
Rachel Hugo, of Madison, was killed Friday in Bayji, Iraq, when insurgents attacked her unit using an improvised explosive device and small arms fire, the Department of Defense announced Saturday. She was a member of the 89th Military Police Brigade of the U.S. Army Reserve and the 79th soldier from Wisconsin killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003.
~ Many thanks to those men and women who fought for our country~
~And many thanks to those who are currently serving our country~
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to Lamama (Laura)..Tommorrow she turns the big Five-0!!!!!!
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