Army Spc. Gregory J. Missman

Died July 9, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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36, of Batavia, Ohio; assigned to the 704th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died July 9 at Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained elsewhere in Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms fire.

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Missman was based at Carson

The Associated Press

DENVER — Spc. Gregory Missman of Batavia, Ohio, has died of wounds sustained while fighting in Afghanistan.

Defense officials say the 36-year-old soldier based at Fort Carson, south of Colorado Springs, died July 9 at Bagram. They say he was wounded when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms fire.

Missman was assigned to the 704th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson.

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Volunteered his time to make community better

The Associated Press

Gregory J. Missman’s 4-year-old son, Jack, doesn’t quite understand the significance of his dad’s death.

Yet his words are mature: “Dad was a strong soldier,” Jack said as he ran into the arms of his mother, Brooke. “He loved us. We loved him.”

Missman was wounded by a roadside bomb and was awarded the Purple Heart before he died of his injuries July 9. He enlisted in the Army after graduating from Amelia High School in 1993, serving for more than three years. He then worked as a computer consultant before re-enlisting. He was assigned to Fort Carson, Colo.

“I don’t know who I’m going to get to fix my computer,” said his father, Jim.

The soldier was a hero to his family long before his death.

“He’s always been a hero of our family,” said his sister, Dawn. “I remember several Thanksgivings we spent together where he was down volunteering in homeless shelters, feeding people who had no place to go or eat.”

He is survived by his father, Jim; his mother, Donna Missman Turner; his son; a brother, Michael Missman; and a sister, Dawn.