VANCOUVER, WA, US
U.S. Army
MSG, 1ST BN, 356TH LOGISTICAL SUPPORT, FORT LEWIS, WA
09/20/2006, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
MSG Robb Gordon Needham, recognizing the essentials of the mission in Iraq volunteered for another tour of duty to advise and train Iraqi National Police. The unit of Iraqi National Police were assigned to Baghdad, and MSG Needham’s team went with their counterparts to aid and assist. MSG Needham was KIA during the mission.
MSG Needham was an individual determined to make a difference, to improve the lot of those he volunteered to help and to set an outstanding example for the men with whom he worked. He was selfless in his ethic to do good.
“Robb was the kind of guy you never had to look back for, because he was ahead of you in a firefight and he was behind you one-hundred percent, like it or not,” according to MAJ Larry Milne, a friend of MSG Needham’s who served with him.
“No one wants to get the call yet it is a harsh reality. I can assure you that Robb knew that reality of war better than most Soldiers and he answered the call to the trumpets by volunteering to go. He ran to the sound of gunfire in defense of Americans and Iraqis,” MAJ Milne added.
A translator who had worked with MSG Needham during his first tour in Iraq describes Robb, “I knew MSG Needham as a guy who had the biggest heart I’ve ever seen. He treated us all like his sons and we treated him like our father. He was a guy who stood for people in need, he helped them a lot. I really appreciate what he did, defending the freedom of Iraq. He served his country, he didn’t give up until he gave his ultimate sacrifice. MSG Needham was always ahead of us helping, training the Iraqi soldiers to serve the new, free Iraq. I’m honored to know MSG Needham,” the translator concluded.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt
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