Army Spc. John Kulick

Died August 9, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

35, of Harleysville, Pa.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized), Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Philadelphia; killed Aug. 9 when a mine exploded and enemy forces attacked using small-arms fire as he was investigating a rocket-propelled grenade incident in Bayji, Iraq. Also killed were Pfc. Nathaniel E. Detample, Spc. Gennaro Pellegrini Jr. and Sgt. Francis J. Straub Jr.

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Kulick loved firefighting

The Associated Press

As a boy, John N. Kulick became enamored of firefighters.

“He was in the firehouses all the time when he was younger,” said Bob Kulick, his uncle. “He was fascinated by fire engines. He went to the local firehouses when they had the open houses and sat in the trucks.”

Little wonder, then, that he joined them when he was only 16.

Kulick, 35, of Harleysville, Pa., died Aug. 9 in Bayji, Iraq, during an ambush. He was based in Philadelphia.

He joined Enterprise Fire Co. of Hatboro at age 16 and worked his way up to deputy chief. He had served as a firefighter at Centre Square Fire Co. in Whitpain for eight years.

He was remembered as a man who liked Lebanon bologna on Wonder bread with lots of mustard. He loved to dance and play the drums, and could be seen on his back porch break dancing with children, Army Chaplain Gary Taylor said.

He was such an avid fisherman that the tackle department at Sears Roebuck won’t be the same without his business, Taylor joked.

“John spent his life saving others and he gave his life serving in a foreign land,” Taylor said.

He is survived by his parents, Terri and James, and his daughter Amanda.