ONTARIO, OR, USA
U.S. Army
SGT, COMPANY B, 2D BATTALION, 503D INFANTRY, 173D ABCT, CAMP EDERLE, ITALY
ASADABAD FST, AFGHANISTAN 10/26/2007
Army Sergeant Joshua C. Brennan, 22, grew up in Ontario, Oregon, with his mother and spent summers and holidays in Wisconsin with his father. Joshua was a 2003 graduate of Ontario High School. He ran the hurdles, played football and hunted elk with his grandfather, uncle and stepfather. He was an enthusiastic Green Bay Packers fan.
Joshua worked a part-time job at a print shop and paid for his own extras while maintaining above-average grades. He was a responsible young man, according to his mother.
After the military, Brennan intended to attend college and pursue a career in forensic science or criminology.
He was close to his family and considered his military company members as extended family. His blended family included six siblings, and he was the eldest.
Joshua was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Vicenza, Italy.
Joshua died October 26, 2007, a day after he was wounded in a firefight with the Taliban in the Korengal Valley. He was serving his second tour in Afghanistan. He had returned home on leave in May, and friends and family threw a party and “lavished him with love.”
Two months prior, he was wounded in the leg in early August and had received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
Six weeks before his death, he asked his mom to mail him a sturdy Bible with big print and said he was developing a strong relationship with God. The two communicated through MySpace, and after Joshua’s platoon sergeant died, she posted the song, “Heaven Was Needing a Hero,” to comfort her son. “Never in my wildest dreams,” she said, “did I know heaven was needing him, too.”