Army Staff Sgt. Michael S. Voss

Died October 8, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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35, of Aberdeen, N.C.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, North Carolina Army National Guard, Wilmington, N.C.; killed Oct. 8 when his convoy vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire near Tikrit, Iraq.

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Carthage soldier dies in Iraq

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — A National Guard soldier from Carthage who received the Purple Heart while in the Army was reported killed in Iraq, the Pentagon and National Guard said Sunday.

Staff Sgt. Michael S. Voss, 35, died Friday near Tikrit when his convoy encountered an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire, the Department of Defense announced. Voss was a squad leader assigned to the Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, based in Wilmington.

Voss worked for Caterpillar Co. in Sanford, according to Powell Funeral Home in Southern Pines. He was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and hunting.

Voss is survived by his wife, Emily Voss, and two children. His family declined to be interviewed Sunday.

“The North Carolina National Guard has suffered a great loss,” Maj. Gen. William E. Ingram, Jr., adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard, said in a statement. “Staff Sgt. Voss was a longtime soldier who dedicated his life to serving his state and his nation. We are grieving with his family.”

Voss’ unit was activated on Oct. 1, 2003, as part of the call-up of the 30th Heavy Separate Brigade, based in Clinton. The brigade, made up of nearly 5,000 soldiers — 3,800 of them from North Carolina armories — left Fort Bragg for Iraq in late February.

Voss joined the Army in 1988 and transferred to the North Carolina Army National Guard in 1997. During his military service, he was a part of operations in Panama in 1989 where he was wounded and received the Purple Heart. Voss also took part in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991.

Voss held three Army Commendation Medals, four Army Achievement Medals and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

His death is the fifth for the North Carolina National Guard since Sept. 11, 2001, and the fourth for the brigade since its deployment.

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N.C. soldier remembered as caring, helpful

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. — Staff Sgt. Michael Voss, a decorated soldier who was killed this month in Iraq, was remembered as a man with a caring heart who loved to fish, hunt and build things.

Before he was killed on Oct. 8, the father of two young girls asked his father to send him a hammer, a carpenter’s square and a tape measure.

“He said he couldn’t build much with a butt of a rifle,” said the Rev. Bill Rolland. “He had a caring heart, and he loved to help people.”

During Voss’ funeral on Saturday, seven soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division fired a 21-shot salute in front of Manly Presbyterian Church; two buglers played “Taps.”

Voss, 35, of Carthage, died when a roadside bomb exploded in a convoy he was leading back to base near Kirkuk. The 35-year-old was a member of the Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, which is based in Wilmington. He was a paratrooper at Fort Bragg for nine years before he joined the Guard.

Voss was a native of Enosburg, Vt.

At his funeral, soldiers silently folded and pressed an American flag that had been draped over his coffin into a triangle and saluted it. Maj. Gen. William Ingram, the commander of the National Guard in North Carolina, took the folded flag, bent down and handed it to Voss’ wife, Emily, who sat with family.

“On behalf of a grateful nation and the United States Army, this flag is presented as a token of appreciation for Michael’s faithful and dedicated service to our country,” he said.

Emily Voss held the flag between her hands over her lap. Then she was given the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star medals that her husband earned while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. She then began to cry.

The Purple Heart was Michael Voss’ second; his first came in the invasion of Panama in 1989.

“Emily never found love until she met Michael,” said Christopher Ring, a family friend who introduced the couple. “That was her soul mate.”

The Voss’ two daughters, who are 4 and 5, did not attend the funeral service.

Michael Voss was an assembly planner at Caterpillar Inc. in Sanford and was one semester shy of completing an associate’s degree in business at Sandhills Community College.

— Associated Press