SWARTZ CREEK, MI, USA U.S. Army SPC, COMPANY C, 2D BATTALION, 503D INFANTRY, 173D ABCT, VICENZA, IT ARANUS, AFGHANISTAN 11/10/2007
Army Specialist Joseph Lancour, grew up in Ludington, Michigan and had moved to Swartz Creek about 170 miles southeast of Ludington in Genesee county. Specialist Lancour died on November 10, 2007, a day after an ambush in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Joe was one of five soldiers whose patrol was attacked Nov. 9 in Aranus, Afghanistan. Two of the soldiers died that day and Specialist Lancour and two others died Nov. 10. Specialist Lancour was part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based in Vicenza, Italy. He was twenty-one years old.
Joe Lancour graduated in 2004 from Ludington High School. After enlisting in the Army in 2006, Specialist Lancour trained as a paratrooper at Fort Benning, Georgia., and was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He served in Italy before being deployed to Afghanistan. He was proud of what he did. While he was home on leave in August 2007, he was upset to learn that his unit had been attacked. His family said he wanted to get back to his unit.
Joseph Lancour was a fun-loving youth who enjoyed skateboarding, camping and fishing. He was a good kid and he got along with others.He played on Ludington High School’s football and baseball teams. Classmates remember him as kind of a skinny football player, but he’d go out there and play hard.