ZACHARY, LA, USA U.S. Army CPL, TROOP A, 2D SQUADRON, 1ST CAVALRY, 4 BCT, FORT LEWIS, WA AL HADID, IRAQ 06/02/2007
A Louisiana soldier with one of Fort Lewis’ two Stryker brigades in Iraq has been killed, the Defense Department said Monday.
Corporal William J. Crouch, 21, of Zachary, La., died Saturday in Hadid when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle.
Crouch was a cavalry scout with the 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, south of Tacoma.
He joined the Army his senior year in high school. His desire to serve came from his father, James Crouch, a Baton Rouge policeman who died of natural causes when Crouch was 13, his mother, Kathy Rushing, said.
He wanted to be “in the thick of things … on the front lines,” she said.
Rushing said casualty assistance soldiers from Fort Polk told her Saturday night that her son had been killed while on patrol.
Crouch’s younger brother, John Crouch, a reservist with a maintenance company stationed in Iraq, would try to join his brother’s body on the flight back to the U.S., Rushing said.
“We’re hoping he’ll be able to bring his brother home,” she said.
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