Hawai'i soldier 'died for a cause'
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Pfc. Joshua Kuile Paul Titcomb, a 20-year-old Wai'anae-born soldier killed in Iraq last week, was a man who sought adventure, travel and a chance to make a difference.
He died doing what he loved, his parents said.
Titcomb
"Right from the beginning, at only 3 years old, Joshua told me he wanted to be a GI Joe policeman," Tennison Titcomb, Joshua's father, said yesterday in a statement released through an Army spokeswoman at Schofield Barracks.
Joshua Titcomb, a graduate of Wai'anae High School, moved to Kentucky in 2001 and joined the Army in August 2003.
"He called me from the Mainland and he told me: 'Mom, I know what I want to do. I'm going to go into the Army,' " his mother, Elizabeth Titcomb, said in the written statement.
Joshua Titcomb trained at Fort Knox and was assigned as a tank crewman to 2nd Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, stationed at Camp Casey, South Korea.
In August, he was deployed to Iraq.
"He was ready to go," his father said. "He never said he was scared. He loved this stuff."
His parents said he loved the Army, and his job as a tanker.
Last Tuesday, in Ramadi, Iraq, Titcomb was critically injured when a makeshift bomb exploded near him. He died Wednesday, the Department of Defense reported.
"He was a very brave soldier and a hero," his mother said. "Joshua fought for a cause he believed in. He died for a cause he believed in. He was willing and proud to serve his country."
The Titcombs, who live in Wai'anae, said they are proud of their son.
In their memories, he will live on as the determined young man who loved football, the ocean, new places and new adventures; as a boy and then a man who never entered a social situation he was afraid to tackle.
"He had no fear," his father said. "He would walk up to anyone and start talking. ... He was who he was."
Services for Titcomb are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Oct. 12 at Sacred Heart Catholic church in Wai'anae.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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Members of Schofield Barracks' 25th Infantry Division (Light) killed in Iraq in 2004: Sept. 1: Spc. Joseph C. Thibodeaux III, 24, of Lafayette, La.; assigned to Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. July 29: Spc. Joseph F. Herndon II, 21, of Denby, Kan.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment. May 2: Staff Sgt. Todd Nunes, 29, of Chapel Hill, Tenn.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment. May 1: Staff Sgt. Oscar D. Medina, 32, of Chicago; assigned to 84th Engineer Battalion. May 1: Spc. Ramon C. Ojeda, 22, of Ramona, Calif.; assigned to 84th Engineer Battalion. April 4: Pfc. John D. Amos, 22, of Valparaiso, Ind.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment. March 18: Pfc. Ernest Sutphin, 21, of Parkersburg, W.Va.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery. Members of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) killed in Afghanistan: Aug. 12: Sgt. Daniel Lee Galvan, 30, of Moore, Okla., 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment. June 7: Cpl. David M. Fraise, 24, of New Orleans, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment. May 1: Spc. Philip Witkowski, 24, of Dunkirk, N.Y., 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery. [Died May 1 while undergoing abdominal surgery in Germany. He was accidentally shot April 30] Sept. 20: Spc. Wesley Wells, 21, of Libertyville, Ill., 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Wolfhounds Other Hawai'i-related casualties in Iraq: Nov. 15, 2003: Sgt. 1st Class Kelly Bolor, 37, of Lahaina, Maui, and 2nd Lt. Jeremy Wolfe, 27, of Menomonie, Wis., a graduate of Hawai'i Pacific University, were killed in a collision of two Black Hawk helicopters. Bolor was a reservist with the 137th Quartermaster Company based in El Monte, Calif. Wolfe was with the 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky. Sept. 29, 2004: Pfc. Joshua Kuile Paul Titcomb, 20, a Wai'anae-born soldier killed in Iraq. He was assigned as a tank crewman to 2nd Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, stationed at Camp Casey, Korea. Titcomb was critically injured when a makeshift bomb exploded near him in Ar Ramadi, Iraq.
Hawai'i deaths
