Army Spc. Joseph M. Garmback Jr.

Died July 8, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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24, of Cleveland, Ohio; assigned to 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; killed July 8 during a mortar attack on the Iraqi National Guard Headquarters in Baghdad.

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Ohio soldier killed in Iraq attack

Associated Press

BROOK PARK, Ohio — Relatives of an Ohio soldier killed in Iraq say he was a family man who wanted to follow in the footsteps of his paratrooper father.

Army Spc. Joseph M. Garmback Jr., 24, of Cleveland, was killed in a mortar attack last Thursday, the military said late Tuesday. He was one of five soldiers killed when the Iraqi National Guard headquarters was attacked in Baghdad.

“He was a good son. He was a good brother. He had a lot of fun. He enjoyed his nieces and nephews,” said his mother, Marlyon Garmback of Brook Park.

Members of the Garmback family gathered at the Continental Airlines cargo area Tuesday evening as Army personnel unloaded his casket from a flight from Dover, Del.

Soldiers then conducted a private military ceremony for Garmback, who joined the Army two years ago to become a paratrooper.

Marlyon Garmback said her son earned 16 medals, including the Combat Infantry Badge and the Purple Heart, and that he will be buried with full military honors.

Garmback was a member of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany. The division is known as the Big Red One, having been founded in 1917 during World War I.

Marlyon Garmback said her only son, the third of her four children, joined the Army in May 2002. He wanted to become a paratrooper like his father, Joseph Sr., who served in the Army from February 1968 to February 1971. The younger Garmback had told his parents he planned to re-enlist.

Marlyon Garmback recalled that her son enjoyed going out but that he always was careful, “a complete gentleman.”

“He always took care of his grandmothers and elderly people,” she said.

As a civilian, Garmback had worked as a cook and ran Indians, Browns and Galleria parties for A Taste of Excellence, a catering company owned by Bill Rini.

Rini had fond memories of the man he called “Joey.”

“Joe was a very kind, compassionate kid who worked for everything he got,” Rini said.

Garmback started working for Rini when he was 16, taking on the responsibilities of a more mature man, Rini said.

Rini recalled that in 1997, when his sister Michelle died, Garmback helped him retrieve a stolen necklace, a family heirloom, that had belonged to his sister. He trusted Garmback implicitly from then on, he said.

Rini introduced Garmback to his best friend, U.S. Army Sgt. James Mauer, a recruiter. When Garmback told Mauer he wanted to join the Army, Mauer helped the young John Marshall High School dropout get his high school diploma at night so he could qualify.

The Garmback family lived in Cleveland before moving to Brook Park last year.

“This was his dream. That’s what he wanted to do. He was going to be a lifer. That was the way he would have wanted to die,” Rini said. “I’m proud of him. He died serving his country. And everyone at work, they’re so proud of him.”