Army Sgt. Joshua A. Schmit

Died April 14, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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26, of Willmar, Minn.; assigned to the 1451st Transportation Company, 13th Support Command, Iraq.; died April 14 in Fallujah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed was Sgt. Brandon L. Wallace.

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Minnesota soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

WILLMAR, Minn.— Army Sgt. Joshua Schmit’s Humvee had hit roadside bombs three times since last May and he’d escaped without injury. Schmit’s luck ended April 14, when the Humvee he was commanding hit another bomb in Iraq.

Schmit, 26, of Willmar, was killed by that fourth bomb, his family said. He was the son of Kim and Greg Schmit of Willmar.

The family hadn’t received other details about his death and didn’t know when his body would be shipped home.

Schmit died just 10 days before he was scheduled to leave Iraq, rejoin his wife, Andrea, in Germany, then move back to the U.S., his father said.

The family was notified around 2 a.m. April 14 by Schmit’s wife.

“He’s been through a hard, hard tour over there,” Greg Schmit, a sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard who is due to leave for Iraq next month, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

“His Humvee has been hit three times, very hard,” his father said. “Every time we talked to him, we were glad he was alive. But his luck just ran out.”

Schmit joined the Minnesota National Guard after graduating from Willmar High School in 1999 but soon decided he wanted to move into the active-duty Army, his father said.

Schmit met his wife, a Brazilian national attending college in Germany, while stationed in Germany before he was sent to Iraq, his father said. She worked as a civilian on the base.

The couple had hoped to move back to Willmar by fall, Greg Schmit said, and eventually wanted to move to Boston.

“He was looking at going to school in the culinary arts,” his father said. “He loves to cook. When he moved to Germany, he’d always hang around the restaurants and learn how to cook the dishes.”

Schmit is the 58th person with strong Minnesota ties who has died in connection with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Friends visits family of fallen soldier

By Anne Polta

The Associated Press

WILLMAR, Minn. — Dozens of signatures cover the American flag hanging on the wall at Greg and Kim Schmit’s home.

There are scrawled names of soldiers and messages of loyalty and remembrance.

“You will be missed and not forgotten.”

“Have faith and perseverance.”

“We will never forget.”

“Love you, bro.”

Shortly after the Schmits’ son, Sgt. Joshua Schmit, was laid to rest in his hometown, several of his military crewmates arrived in Willmar to grieve with his family.

Schmit, 26, an Army sergeant, died April 14 in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded under his Humvee. He was 10 days away from ending a deployment that lasted for more than a year. The blast also killed Brandon Wallace, a company member from Missouri.

The day after Schmit’s death, his family received a phone call from the soldiers in his unit, the 3rd Platoon of the 1451st Transportation Company.

“They said they were all coming to visit,” said his sister, Jessica.

In early May, a week after Schmit’s memorial service in Willmar, eight soldiers arrived at Greg and Kim Schmit’s front door in a rented van they had driven nonstop from Indiana, where they had undergone processing after returning to the U.S.

With them was the flag signed by dozens of the soldiers in Schmit’s unit. They brought the portrait that was displayed at Schmit’s memorial service in Iraq. They brought a wooden box filled with mementoes from fellow soldiers — badges, coins, cigarettes, a cross on a chain.

Above all, they brought a personal connection to Schmit, his family said.

“We lost a son and a brother, but we gained eight young men,” Kim Schmit said.

The eight soldiers, ranging in age from the mid-20s to early 30s, stayed for two days, sharing stories, videos and photos and paying an emotional visit to Schmit’s grave at Fairview Cemetery.

Schmit’s father, Greg — an active-duty National Guardsman who was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq when his son was killed — said Schmit had been distressed and unhappy in some of his phone calls home, especially after having his stay in Iraq extended earlier this year.

He spoke of the danger and worried about his father being sent to Iraq.

His family said Schmit missed his wife, Andrea, whom he met and married in Germany. The couple was planning to move to the U.S. later this year so that Schmit could attend chef’s training.

“We were concerned he was closing himself off,” Greg Schmit said.

But in videos and recollections from his Army friends, his parents and sister were able to see him laugh and joke.

In one video, taped the night before his fatal mission, Schmit and another soldier were dancing for the camera, Kim Schmit said.

“It was just so nice to hear them all laughing, trying to have some enjoyment,” she said.

One of the mementoes they brought for the family was Schmit’s favorite stainless steel coffee cup, full of dents and with a loose handle.

“That was something they knew we needed to have,” Jessica Schmit said. “It was still stained and dirty.”

His buddies also were able to fill in some of the details about Schmit’s final mission.

In the days after his death, the information that trickled to his family was often conflicting or incomplete, his mother said.

Most of the soldiers who visited last month were on the convoy when the bomb exploded and the Humvee burst into flames, she said. “What they wanted to convey to us was that Josh was killed instantly. That kind of brought some peace to us.”

The soldiers planned to visit Wallace’s family in Missouri as well before returning to their own homes.

They told the Schmits they want to come back every year for a reunion. Several have stayed in touch with Jessica Schmit, sending her text messages and encouragement for her daughter.

“They said she’ll never be without an uncle,” Jessica Schmit said. “It seems like we’ve known them for a long time. They told us, ‘Any question you have, we’ll answer it.’ ”

A week after the soldiers left, the Schmits received another visit, this time from another crewmate, a sergeant who pulled Schmit’s body out of the burning Humvee. They also received a phone call from Schmit’s medic, who had ridden with him on several missions and who is still stationed in Iraq but wants to visit Schmit’s family when he returns to the U.S.

“That is what just amazes us,” Kim Schmit said. “We were just so touched and overwhelmed to have them come to our home. They’re hurting too. They all are trying to figure out their own directions again. They just have a special bond. I feel like they’re my boys. They weren’t strangers at all. They all knew my son.”