Army Spc. Joshua M. Neusche

Died July 12, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Montreal, Mo.; assigned to the 203rd Engineer Battalion, in Joplin, Mo.; died from a non-combat related cause in Homburg Hospital, Germany, on July 12.

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For Spc. Joshua M. Neusche’s family, there was at least some comfort in being able to see him just before he died.

Neusche, 20, of Montreal, Mo., died July 12 at a hospital in Germany from what was diagnosed as pneumonia contracted earlier in Iraq. He was an Army Reservist based in Joplin, Mo.

Monique Willcut, Neusche’s cousin, said Neusche’s parents arrived in Germany a few days before his death, as doctors were trying stabilize him so he could be flown to a hospital in the United States.

“He never made it [to the United States],” Willcut said. “But at least my aunt, uncle and cousin Jacob made it in time and were able to be with him before he died.”

Some 650 soldiers in Neusche’s unit each gave $10 to pay for the family’s airfare and expenses in Germany. “It was so nice of them to do that,” Willcut said. “If they hadn’t, my cousin would have died all alone.”

— Associated Press