Army Cpl. Joseph P. Micks

Died July 8, 2006 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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22, of Rapid River, Mich.; assigned to 54th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, Warner Barracks, Bamberg, Germany; died July 8 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his mine protected vehicle during combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Omar D. Flores, Sgt. Al’Kaila T. Floyd and Cpl. Troy C. Linden.

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Slain soldier gets final wish – a burial in Germany

By Michael J. Feeney

Associated Press

DETROIT — The family of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq plans to fulfill his last wish — to bury him in Germany where he had planned to raise a family with his German wife.

Army Spc. Joseph P. Micks, 22, of Rapid River, Michigan, died Saturday in Ramadi, Iraq, when a makeshift bomb detonated near his vehicle, the Pentagon said. Two other soldiers from the 54th Engineer Battalion died in the explosion.

Micks was just months away from finishing his tour in Iraq and had plans to rejoin his wife in Germany, his mother, Amy Micks, said in a telephone interview.

“He wanted to go and make a difference,” she said Monday night. “He wanted to help end things. He was a happy kid and always wanted to help others.”

Micks was assigned to the 54th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, Warner Barracks, in Bamberg, Germany.

While serving in Germany, he met and married his wife, Ramona, his mother said.

“Through her wishes and Joe’s wishes, his burial will be in Germany, where they were going to build a family,” she said.

However, Micks’ body first will be flown to Michigan for a memorial service at the Gladstone Armory this weekend.

Micks began a one-year tour of Iraq in November, but there was talk that he could have been released as early as September, Amy Micks said.

“He wanted to come home,” said his mother, who last spoke to her son two weeks ago. “He saw too much over there — all of the killing and his friends dying.”

Micks was an altar server at the family’s church, a Boy Scout, loved to collect sports memorabilia and fixed the computers of neighbors in their tight-knit community, his parents said.

“He was our hero. He stood up for our land and he gave everything he had,” she said. “We love him and wish he was here.”