Army Spc. Tracy C. Willis

Died August 26, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Marshall, Texas; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died Aug. 26 in Samarra, Iraq, of wounds sustained when the enemy attacked his unit during combat operations. Also killed was Sgt. Joshua L. Morley.

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2 Fort Bragg soldiers killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The two soldiers who died Aug. 26 in a firefight in Samarra, Iraq, were based at Fort Bragg, the military said Aug. 27.

Killed were Sgt. Joshua L. Morley, 22, and Cpl. Tracy C. Willis, 21, of San Antonio, Texas. Although the military listed Morley’s hometown as Boise, Idaho, family members said he and his wife lived at Fort Bragg and that Morley considered Hendersonville his hometown.

Both men were with the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Morley was a sniper and Willis was a scout.

A dozen insurgents also died in the firefight Aug. 26.

Morley is survived by his wife, Kendra, and a daughter, who was born in April, said Irene Brevard, Morley’s aunt.

“Josh was a fine young man that wanted to serve his country so that the rest of us could have our freedom,” she said.

Morley was born in Hendersonville, said his father, Joe Morley, but Joe Morley’s career in the Army took the family to different cities. “Hendersonville was as much of a hometown as he ever knew,” said Joe Morley, who lives in Carthage.

He said Josh Morley’s mother, Sara, lives in Apex. Josh and Kendra Morley had been living at Fort Bragg, where Josh Morley was in the 505th Parachute Infantry, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, family members said.

The unit will hold a memorial service in Iraq for the men.

Willis is survived by his parents, Darryl and Wilma Willis of San Antonio.